Sabah cops seize illegal frozen food worth RM19.6mil in Penampang

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police have seized various types of illegal frozen food worth RM19.6mil in raids on two warehouses in Penampang near here.

They also screened 13 people on the premises during the operation at 10am on Saturday (Oct 21), some of them believed to be workers there, but released them as they had no criminal records.

Sabah deputy police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Shahurinain Jais said the warehouses were used to store and pack the items before they were sold locally.

He said police raided the premises, suspected of not having the proper documentation to keep animal products, following a tip-off.

The items seized included chicken, duck and goat parts as well as beef, fish and squid, he told reporters at state police headquarters in Kepayan here on Monday (Oct 23).

“We also seized frozen nuggets, sausages and fishballs of various brands,” added DCP Shahurinain.

According to him, the food items were sourced from countries such as Brazil, Sweden, Australia, German and Poland, and did not have the halal certification required by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

He said police found that some of the meat products were past their expiry dates but had not been disposed of properly.

Some boxes also had tampered halal logos, he added.

“We also found both premises were operating illegally as their licences had expired since July,” he said.

They also seized also seized four lorries, eight forklifts and a computer, bringing the total value of items seized to RM20.46mil.

The animal products were turned over to the state Veterinary Services Department for further investigation, DCP Shahurinain added.

He said the operation was jointly conducted with the Wildlife Crime Bureau, Bukit Aman’s Internal Security and Public Order Department, the General Operations Force and Penampang CID, among others.