PUTRAJAYA: Activities to siphon subsidised liquid petroleum gas (LPG) were busted after two stores in Negeri Sembilan were raided by a Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) enforcement team yesterday.
KPDNHEP enforcement director Azman Adam said six men, comprising two locals and four Myanmars, aged from 20 to 30, were arrested during the raids in Seremban and Port Dickson and the seizures were valued at RM147,940.
He said the team also found 126 full and empty 50 kilogrammes (kg) LPG cylinders for industrial use, 136 full and empty 14 kg LPG cylinders for domestic use and 1,500 empty and full liquefied butane cartridges.
“Also seized were a five-tonne general cargo lorry full of 14 kg LPG cylinders and equipment to transfer LPG such as hose, scales and several packages of ice,” he said in a statement here, today.
Azman said the stores were suspected of being used as a place to transfer the subsidised 14 kg LPG into the industrial use LPG tanks and the 230-gramme (gm) gas cartridges for use on portable stoves.
He said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to receive fully subsidised domestic 14 kg LPG cylinders from wholesalers in Klang and Beranang.
“The subsidised 14 kg LPG cylinders were not sent to retailers but were sent to the stores to be transferred into the 50 kg cylinders and 230 gm gas cartridges,” he said.
Azman said the operation was conducted after a three-week intelligence surveillance which found that both the premises had been carrying out gas decanting activities for the past two months.
He said the case was being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 and the Control of Supply Regulations 1974.
“A person can be fined not more than RM1 million or jailed not more than three years or both if found guilty under the act. A company can be fined not more than RM3 million if found guilty,” he added. — Bernama
