SANDAKAN – The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (MDTCA) thwarted an attempt to misappropriate 32,000 litres of diesel, worth RM52,000, from two tanker lorries at a jetty in Kg Batu Putih near here on Monday.
The ministry’s Sandakan enforcement chief, Mohamad Hashim, said three local men, aged between 23 and 41, including the lorry drivers, were detained to facilitate investigations.
“MDTCA, together with a team comprising members from the Eastern Sabah Security Command and the General Operations Force, raided the jetty after a week of surveillance, during which they witnessed the siphoning of subsidised diesel for fishermen from the skid tank to two tanker lorries.
“According to the lorry drivers, the diesel was to be taken and sold directly to the plantation sector in the east coast of Sabah,” he told a media conference here today.
The case will be investigated under Section 21 of the Control of Supplies Act 1961 for unlawful possession of controlled items, read together with Section 20 (1) of the same law for the removal of controlled items from business premises and the storage of controlled items in premises other than licensed business premises. – Bernama, November 24, 2021
