BUKIT KAYU HITAM – Amendments to the relevant act are needed to enable the Road Transport Department (RTD) to take action against modified foreign-registered vehicles in an effort to deal with the issue of diesel subsidy leakages.
Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he will bring the matter to the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to ensure more effective enforcement to curb diesel smuggling activities using modified vehicles.
“Smuggling is becoming rampant...it has become a trend where smugglers use modified foreign pickup trucks to smuggle goods, especially diesel.
“No actions are taken because the relevant act does not cover the modification of foreign vehicles,” he told a press conference after visiting the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex here today.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when tabling Budget 2023 on February 24, said that there were leakages in the implementation of diesel subsidies when almost RM10 billion worth of diesel was misappropriated last year.
Ahmad said on March 1, the Kedah Customs Department here busted an attempt to smuggle 800l of diesel using two modified pickup trucks.
For the record, the department also detained six foreign-registered pickup trucks, which have modified tanks laden with 1,780l of diesel worth RM3,827 at the ICQS Complex on January 29.
Meanwhile, Ahmad said the state Customs Department collected RM1.45 billion in revenue last year. – Bernama, March 5, 2023
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