JOHOR BARU: A shipment of over 16 tonnes of canned sardines from Singapore were seized by the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (Maqis).
Its Johor director Edie Putra Md Yusof said the shipment worth RM83,879.84 was brought into Johor on a lorry via the Causeway checkpoint at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here last Wednesday (March 27).
“When Maqis officials checked the lorry, there were no import permits for the canned sardines, which were packed in 1,600 carton boxes.
“All the items were seized for further investigation under Section 11(1) of the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Act 2011 [Act 728],” he said in a statement on Tuesday (April 2).
Edie Putra added that Maqis recorded the statement of the 30-year-old lorry driver before letting him go.
He said the offence is also punishable under Section 11(3) of the same Act for importing products without a permit from Maqis.
The penalty for the offence is a maximum fine of RM100,000, a jail term of not more than six years or both upon conviction.
