Sandakan MMEA Foils Bid To Smuggle 1,700 Packets Of Subsidised Cooking Oil

SANDAKAN, June 28 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) seized 1,700 packets of subsidised cooking oil from a boat near the Kampung Combo fishermen's jetty here yesterday, believed to have been intended for smuggling to a neighbouring country.

Sandakan MMEA Zone director Maritime Captain Muhamad Suhairy Hussain said the seizure was made at 3 am after the agency received information about a suspicious-looking boat in the area.

"A team conducting a routine operation was deployed to the location to check, but the individual aboard the boat jumped into the sea upon realising the presence of enforcement personnel.

"The suspect escaped into a nearby mangrove area. An inspection of the green-and-yellow boat uncovered 100 black plastic bags containing packets of subsidised cooking oil," he said in a statement here today.

He added that several bundles of cooking oil were also found floating on the sea surface, believed to have been thrown overboard by the suspect while fleeing.

"The boat, together with about 1,700 packets of cooking oil, was seized and taken to the Sandakan MMEA Zone jetty for further action. The case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, while efforts to trace the individual involved are ongoing," he said.

-- BERNAMA