TUMPAT: The Pengkalan Kubor Region Three Marine Police Force (PPM) recorded RM4.6 million in seizures in the first six months of this year along 20.4 km of the Kelantan–Thailand border.
PPM Commanding Officer ASP Mohd Rudzuan Ahmad said the highest number of cases recorded involved the invasion of foreign fishing boats under the Fisheries Act 1985 with seizures worth RM4.2 million.
He said for cases involving the Control of Supplies Act 1961, various controlled items worth RM62,000 were also seized.
“In general during this period, we recorded 204 seizures with the most cases being under the National Padi and Rice Act 1994 (60 cases) followed by the Fisheries Act 1985 (44 cases) and Control of Supplies Act 1961 (32 cases).
“For cases under the Control of Supplies Act, most of the confiscations involved subsidised items such as cooking oil, diesel and petrol in smuggling bids to neighbouring countries,” he said when met at his office here today.
Mohd Rudzuan said to date the strength of Pengkalan Kubor’s Marine Police Force was 74 personnel including 15 based in Tok Bali, Pasir Puteh.
He said the Marine police only controlled the border from Kuala Takbai to Kubang Pak Itam at a patrolling distance of 20.4 km and the rest of the area was under the responsibility of the General Operations Force (GOF).
“The Marine Police controlled only up to Kubang Pak Itam because the Sungai Golok route was narrow and shallow enabling only three Strike boats and land patrols on motorcycles to be carried out .
“Even so, we are constantly patrolling the area to prevent any smuggling attempts,” he said.
He said, cigarettes were smuggled mostly by sea routes and areas where the activity was most frequent were in Kuala Besar, Pulau Tengkorak and Tok Bali.
He said the problem with enforcement on the Kelantan-Thailand border was the presence of numerous illegal bases and rat tracks that made it difficult for smuggling to be eradicated.
To make matters worse, tonto groups masterminded by locals take wages to monitor the movements of the authorities.
“To date, we have identified 59 illegal bases which have stores on the edge of Sungai Golok which are built on private land and it is difficult to detect the activities being carried out there,” he said
Since January, 94 operations have been conducted solely to combat smuggling activities.
Recently, Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar said the government had suffered losses of between RM3 billion and RM5 billion a year due to revenue leakages at the country’s entry points.
He said the revenue leakages were due to smuggling, either due to negligence or lack of equipment to carry out monitoring and control at the border. — Bernama
