40,000 sachets of fake Tongkat Ali premixed coffee seized from operation in Sabah

Sabah Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry Enforcement personnel checking sachets of the fake premix coffee.

KOTA KINABALU: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has crippled an operation distributing fake premixed instant coffee.

The ministry's enforcement chief Suhaimi Mat Sari said nearly 40,000 sachets of the fake Tongkat Ali with Ginseng coffee, under the CNI brand were seized from several premises here on Friday.

He said samples of the premixed coffee, with a value of nearly RM60,000, would be sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis.

"We believe this operation has been going on in Sabah for six months," Suhaimi said, adding that the fake products were mainly sold in coffee shops.

He said the packaging of the fake premixed coffee was so similar with the original that purchasers would have difficulty telling them apart.

"We were able to pinpoint the fake ones from the batch numbers printed on the boxes," Suhaimi said.\

He said the fake premixed coffee was believed to have been manufactured in the peninsula.

No arrests have been made yet in connection with the seizures.