BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) Penang branch seized various controlled and subsidised goods in a raid on a warehouse in Permatang Batu, Perda, here, today.
State chief enforcement officer Mohd Suffian Mohd Abbas said that the team, after a month of surveillance, seized a total of 6,371 kilogrammes (kg) of cooking oil, 18,100 kg of granulated sugar and 1,100 kg of wheat flour, all of which are controlled and subsidised goods, worth RM80,500.
The team also impounded a lorry, worth RM25,000, in the raid and a local lorry driver in his 70s was detained, while two foreign workers fled.
Mohd Suffian said that the warehouse is suspected of misusing its licence to profit by repackaging cooking oil from polybags into 17kg drums, sold for RM80-RM90 each, and transferring sugar into 50kg sacks, earning tens of thousands of ringgit monthly over two to three years.
“Packaging materials were burned behind the premises, believed to destroy evidence,” he said after the raid on the warehouse, today.
He said that a Filipino woman was also detained to assist in the investigation, and the case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 and the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974.
Meanwhile, in KUANTAN, Pahang KPDN seized 32 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and related documents from an unlicensed supplier, with the total seizure valued at RM26,944, in Gambang yesterday.
Its director Jezlily Jamaluddin said that the raid, conducted at 11 am, followed a month-long investigation into a lorry suspected of regularly supplying large quantities of LPG to a factory, without the required licences for distribution, possession, or storage of controlled goods.
“During the raid, 32 LPG cylinders, each with a capacity of 50 kg, were discovered in the lorry, which was intercepted while attempting to complete a sale. The lorry owner failed to produce the necessary documents proving ownership of the LPG,” she said in a statement.
She added that an investigation paper had been opened under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, for conducting transactions or storing scheduled controlled goods without a valid permit.
