KPDNHEP nabs man with 1.7 tonnes of subsidised cooking oil

SANDAKAN: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), Sandakan branch, has detained a man for attempting to misappropriate 1.7 tonnes (1,700 kilogrammes (kg)) of subsidised cooking oil, at a unnumbered premises here, on April 29.

Branch chief Mohamad Hashim said the enforcement division had been conducting intelligence on the premises, located at the 15th mile, for a week before moving in and nabbing the man, as well as seizing 100 boxes each containing 17 one kg cooking oil packages and a lorry, at 2.30 pm.

“The suspect admitted that the place and the cooking oil belonged to him. We do not rule out his intention to sell it in a neighbouring country at the industrial price to reap a profit of over RM6,000,” he told reporters here, today.

Mohamad said that the man was detained to help in the investigation under Section 20(1) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961.

He said that anyone caught misappropriating subsidised cooking oil could be fined not exceeding RM1 million or jailed not exceeding three years, or both, if found guilty.

For a second and subsequent offence, an individual can be fined not exceeding RM3 million or jailed not exceeding five years, or both, if found guilty, Mohamad added.

-- BERNAMA