BACHOK: The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry has foiled an attempt to misappropriate and smuggle 10.2 tonnes of subsidised 1kg packet cooking oil worth RM25,500.
The oil was seized during a raid at Kampung Pauh Sembilan early on Monday (July 27).
The ministry's Kelantan enforcement director, Hanif Yusabra Yusof, said the 6.30am Ops Tiris 4.0 Bersepadu raid also resulted in the seizure of a three-tonne lorry, a car, and two four-wheel-drive vehicles, bringing the total value of the seized items to RM110,500.
The raid followed public tip-offs and three days of surveillance on an unoccupied house believed to have been used as a transit point for the controlled goods.
"Several individuals were seen unloading 1kg packets of cooking oil from a lorry into three other vehicles.
"They fled into nearby bushes upon spotting enforcement officers, but a 49-year-old local man, believed to be the lorry driver, was detained," he told a press conference today.
Preliminary investigations found the 600 boxes of subsidised cooking oil were believed to have been transported from the Klang Valley to Kelantan and were to smuggled into a neighbouring country.
The driver is believed to have been paid RM300 per trip.
Hanif Yusabra said smuggling syndicates have changed their modus operandi by using locations outside border districts for early-morning loading activities to avoid detection.
The case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, with investigations expanded to identify the entire syndicate network, including suppliers, transporters, and recipients.
Between January and July this year, the ministry's enforcement office in Kelantan recorded104 cases involving the misappropriation of subsidised packet cooking oil, with seizures totalling 72,886 kg valued at RM178,836.
He stressed that the ministry would take firm action against those abusing subsidised controlled goods, and urged the public to continue providing information through its official channels to help curb subsidy leakages. – Bernama
