PUTRAJAYA: Six men, including five foreigners in their 30s, have been arrested for alleged misappropriation of subsidised cooking oil.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry director-general (enforcement) Datuk Azman Adam said the raid, which was conducted at 4pm on Tuesday in Taman Semenyih Jaya, Semenyih, Selangor, was the result of three months of intelligence.
The premises was used as an illegal store to transfer subsidised cooking oil from its packets into intermediate bulk container (IBC) tanks believed to be for resale to the industry, he said in a statement yesterday.
Azman said four units of IBC tanks with 4,168kg of cooking oil, boxes and plastic cooking oil packets that had been cut, all worth RM40,000, have been seized.
The case is being investigated under Section 21 of the Control of Supplies Act for possessing controlled goods with intent to commit an offence and the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act, Bernama reported.
Azman said the ministry will continue to intensify monitoring and enforcement to prevent others from taking advantage of the subsidised controlled goods.
Meanwhile, he said the ministry has recorded 94 cases and seized 104,447kg of cooking oil worth RM109,000 in Ops Tiris 3.0 as of Feb 28.
He said the action was part of the Kita Gempur initiative launched on Oct 19 last year to address the issue of manipulation in business activities and leakage involving controlled goods and subsidised controlled goods.
He urged the public with information regarding the misappropriation of controlled and subsidised goods to report the matter via WhatsApp at 019-848 8000, the ministry’s e-Complaint Portal, its call centre at 1-800-886-800 or the Ez ADU application.
