A diesel smuggling operation was foiled by enforcement officers.
KUALA LUMPUR: A lorry with a seemingly insatiable thirst for diesel turned out to be making stops to fill up for an illegal diesel depot.
The lorry that made dozens of stops at petrol stations across the Klang Valley eventually led Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry enforcement officers to its depot in Sungai Besi.
Deputy director Rosli Ahmad said officers found almost 8,000 litres of subsidised fuel valued at over RM22,000.
The covered truck bed contained six 1,000-litre tanks that were connected to a pump attached to the fuel tank, and diesel was in the process of being transferred to a storage tank.
A local man at the depot was also detained for questioning.
Officers also raided a shed located nearby which was decanting subsidised cooking gas in 14kg cylinders into industrial 50kg cylinders, which are unsubsidised.
About 15 large cylinders and 50 small cylinders were seized.
The decanting at the shed was done in a crude fashion.
Two cylinders were connected using a rubber hose and ice placed on the cylinder to be filled.
Hot water is poured on the cylinder to be emptied, causing the gas to expand and flow into the chilled cylinder.
An attendant working at the shed, believed to be a foreigner, managed to escape.
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