KUDAT: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Kudat Zone seized 25 barrels of petrol to foil a bid to smuggle the controlled item to the Philippines at 4.30 am yesterday.
MMEA Kudat Zone director Maritime Commander Hasbullah Omar said the seizure of the estimated 5,000 litres of petrol was carried out in a special operation around the waters of Pulau Mandi Darah to combat smuggling activities.
He said that based on intelligence, a patrol boat was deployed to the location around 1.6 nautical miles northeast of Telukan Paitan, Pitas, to head off suspicious activity.
“The MMEA patrol detected a boat moving in the dark and when approached, two operatives in the boat jumped into the sea to escape in the nearby mangrove swamp,“ he said in a statement here.
Hasbullah said one of the suspects aged 28 was ,however, arrested and did not have any identification documents.
He said the boat with the suspect and petrol were taken to the jetty to be handed over to the Kudat maritime zone investigating officer for further action.
Total value of the seized items is estimated to be worth more than RM25,000 and the case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
