Lorry drivers carry excessive loads for RM300 commission a day

KUANTAN - "I had to carry excessive loads to get an RM300 commission per day," said a lorry driver who wanted to be known as Mohd.

Mohd, in his 40s, said the commission was calculated based on the weight of cargo for RM7 per ton and trips (delivery trips) made within a day.

"Early in the morning every day, I leave the house and take coal at the port to be delivered to industrial companies in Kuantan and Terengganu," he said at an operation by the Road Transport Department (RTD) on Thursday.

Mohd said he was aware of the risk of driving an overloaded lorry on the road.

"I will drive the truck more carefully to avoid undesired consequences when carrying beyond the load limit.

"I have been sued by the authorities for various offences including exceeding the load limit and even my driving licence was suspended for eight months last year," he, who has been working as a lorry driver for the past 12 years, said.

Mohd said he had to take more trips to get more commission.

"I am willing to sacrifice rest time to achieve five trips where there is an RM50 food allowance," he said.

Another lorry driver who refused to be identified admitted that the trend of making more trips for the sake of commission existed among lorry drivers.

"On a single day, I would make three trips. The commission is as much as RM200," he said.

The 24-year-old man said that the employer would definitely cut his salary when the lorry he was driving was detained by authorities.

"My salary is RM4,000 monthly but I got arrested by authorities, it will be deducted by RM500.

"I have been arrested and sued by RTD twice. I had to drive overloaded trucks because I wanted a high commission," he said.

Meanwhile, RTD always emphasised on confidentiality to ensure that operations on lorries carrying excessive loads known as Ops Mammoth were successful.

RTD operations chief assistant director Nor Azlan Ibrahim said that one of the challenges was to ensure that no information was leaked before the operation was carried out.

"Confidentiality is considered as an indicator to determine the success of an operation," he told Sinar on Thursday.

Nor Azlan said his team would carry out intelligence at a location within three to seven days before an operation is carried out.

"Individual intelligence by trusted officials at RTD Headquarters is carried out to maintain confidentiality," he said.

Nor Azlan said that his team also held a briefing session for all members and enforcement officers involved in an operation.

"We are also collaborating with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) because we want to warn staff that the agency will take stern action against individuals who are found guilty of leaking operational information," he said.

Commenting further, Nor Azlan said that his team also collaborated with telecommunication companies to detect information leakage.

"We also found tonto to be one of the causes of information leakage. They spy on personnel’s movements involved in an operation," he said.