KOTA BHARU - An attempt to smuggle Ramadan stock packets of cooking oil weighed 9,350 kilograms (kg) in total to neighboring countries have failed as the items were seized during a joint operation in Pengkalan Datu, Sering here yesterday.
In the incident at 2pm, the police and Tok Bali Region Three Marine Police Force had detected the smuggling activities at a premise as a result of joint intelligence with Kelantan Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN).
KPDN director Azman Ismail said during the surveillance, several men were seen unloading boxes suspected to contain cooking oil worth RM62,375 from a local premise into a locally registered car.
"We have raided and arrested four suspects aged 25 to 40 years old under the Supply Control Act 1961.
"Further inspection then found that all of them failed to present documents related to retail transactions of the controlled goods," he said in a press conference at Kelantan KPDN evidence storage store, Pengkalan Chepa here today.
Results of investigation then found that the syndicate's modus operandi was to temporarily store the cooking oil supply they obtained outside of Kelantan somewhere before the raw materials will be brought to illegal bases around the national border.