KUALA LUMPUR: Five men were arrested on suspicion of embezzling 955 boxes of subsidised cooking oil worth more than RM50,000 in and around the capital last week.
The five arrested comprised four locals and a foreigner, aged between 28 and 35 years old.
Kuala Lumpur Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry director Ariffin Samsudin said they received two cases from the Cheras General Operations Force (GOF) on Oct 12.
He said the first case involved the seizure of 250 boxes of subsidised cooking oil with an estimated worth of RM10,625 during a raid at a residence in Jalan Chow Kit.
"The residence was storing subsidised cooking oil without a valid licence which led to the arrest of two local men and one foreigner," he said during a press conference here Monday (Oct 17).
According to Ariffin, the second case involved the seizure of 705 boxes of subsidised cooking oil estimated to be worth RM29,962 in an unnumbered warehouse at Taman Bamboo in Jinjang.
"In the raid, the GOF team arrested two local men and confiscated a lorry with a convertible tank used to store cooking oil and also seized a cooking oil extractor," he said.
At the same press conference, Cheras GOF operations commander Supt Ibrahim Husin said the two syndicates involved were believed to have sourced subsidised cooking oil in bulk from other states and stored it at the premises.
"The syndicate will reprocess the cooking oil and sell it to industries at double the price of the subsidised item," he said.
The cases would be investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 because both premises are suspected with dealing in (storing) controlled items, specifically subsidised cooking oil, without a valid licence. - Bernama
