JOHOR BAHRU, April 2 — The Johor Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) will intensify enforcement operations to curb cases of smuggling or misappropriation of subsidised RON95 petrol, including undercover operations, especially at 31 petrol stations near the state border.
Its director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo said all the petrol stations in question are located in the city area as well as Iskandar Puteri, where static monitoring operations are also being carried out to detect and monitor the locations.
“Monitoring will be enhanced where teams will operate statically and undercover methods, especially at high-risk petrol stations,” she told Bernama.
She said this when asked to comment on whether monitoring and enforcement would be intensified to curb cases of smuggling of subsidised RON95 fuel.
She said the public could lodge any official complaints via WhatsApp at 019-8488000, the [email protected] portal, the KPDN Ez ADU application and the 1-800-886-800 call centre.
Meanwhile, in KOTA KINABALU, the Beaufort Branch KPDN in a statement said a diesel misappropriation tactic was uncovered when a four-wheel drive vehicle was caught with a modified additional tank containing about 200 litres of fuel during an Ops Tiris 4.0 on Tuesday.
It said the raid was carried out at a petrol station following information and observations by enforcement officers who detected suspicious activity while the vehicle was filling up with diesel at the station pump.
The branch’s enforcement head, Julie Julhani said further inspection found that the vehicle had been modified with an additional tank which was believed to be used for the purpose of diverting subsidised fuel.
“Following that, KPDN has seized the vehicle involved, diesel fuel and related documents for further investigation. This case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, involving action against the vehicle driver and the petrol station,” she said.
IN PERAK, the state KPDN seized 94 drums of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and 270 litres of petrol in an operation in the Orang Asli Village area in Gerik, on Tuesday.
Perak KPDN director Datuk Kamalludin Ismail said the 5.30pm operation was carried out by a team of officers and enforcement personnel from the Gerik Branch following a public complaint about the existence of premises carrying out transactions in controlled goods without a valid license or permit.
He said that a thorough inspection at the location found that two premises were detected carrying out illegal LPG and petrol trading activities.
He said that in the raid, two individuals, a 32-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman who were believed to be the owners of the premises, failed to present any authorisation documents from the Malaysian Supply Controller for transactions involving the controlled goods. — Bernama
