KOTA BHARU: The Customs Department Kelantan branch arrested two men on suspicion of attempting to smuggle 10,175 kilogrammes of subsidised cooking oil, estimated to be worth RM20,350, into a neighbouring country, yesterday.
Its director Wan Jamal Abdul Salam Wan Long said two local men, the driver and his assistant, in their 30s, were arrested while driving an Isuzu-type lorry near Kampung Kubang Panjang Bridge in Tumpat, at 4 in the morning.
He said that the syndicate was detected in the last 14 days by the operation team of the Kota Bharu enforcement division.
“The inspection of the lorry found as many as 595 boxes of cooking oil, estimated to be worth RM20,350, believed to have been brought from Ipoh, Perak, to be smuggled into a neighbouring country, while the value of the lorry is RM70,000.
“The investigation is ongoing, to identify the owner of the seized subsidised cooking oil packets,” he said in a press conference at the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN), Kelantan branch, today.
Wan Jamal Abdul Salam said that the interrogation found that the suspects received a wage of RM300 to deliver the cooking oil supply, and the case was being investigated according to Section 135 (1) of the Customs Act 1967, and reclassified according to Section 5 of the Control of Supplies Act 1961.
Meanwhile, Kelantan KPDN director Azman Ismail said that the ministry will increase enforcement and monitoring, especially at the border, namely in Rantau Panjang, Tumpat and Tanah Merah, due to the expected high demand for subsidised cooking oil packets from a neighbouring country during Ramadan month.
He said that among the contributing factors to the smuggling of subsidised oil to a neighbouring country are halal and cheap prices. –Bernama
