BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Penang branch of the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minstry raided a warehouse and uncovered the activities of a syndicate to modify a container and make fake liquor in Permatang Batu, Perda here.
State chief enforcement officer Mohd Suffian Mohd Abbas said the raid, carried out at 5.30pm on Thursday (Dec 5), uncovered various items and equipment used to process and package the counterfeit liquor in a warehouse and also a container (to conduct fake liquor-making activities and storing it) located at the site.
He said that a further inspection on two containers found 16,513 bottles of liquor of various brands, 900 litres of alcoholic liquid in a drum, 26,815 empty glass bottles, aluminium caps as well as IBC (intermediate bulk container) tanks used to mix the alcohol, adding that the total estimated seizure value was RM1.018mil.
"The raid is a follow-up to the operation we conducted yesterday related to the diversion of controlled and subsidised goods at the same location.
"This warehouse area is quite large and we suspect it is used by different syndicates, but further investigations are still ongoing, including identifying the owner of this place because no one was there during the raid," he told reporters at a press conference at the location on Friday (Dec 6).
Suffian said the syndicate had placed a "closed" sign in front of the entrance gate to the location to deceive the authorities, supposedly indicating that it was uninhabited.
He said that based on initial investigations, his team is not ruling out the possibility that the fake liquor is targeted for the local market, such as supermarkets, and is also believed to be sold online.
He also said his team would summon the trademark owners for verification purposes, as most of the seized goods involved counterfeit trade and the cases are being investigated under Section 102 (1)(c) of the Trademarks Act 2019.
On Thursday, the ministry seized 6,371kg of cooking oil, 18,100kg of granulated sugar and 1,100kg of wheat flour, all worth RM80,500, and also impounded a lorry, worth RM25,000 during a raid at a warehouse in the same area.- Bernama
