YAN: A total of 96,000kg of subsidised fertiliser worth RM100,000, believed to have been misappropriated, was seized in a raid on an illegal warehouse in Jalan Sedaka near here today.
The raid at 11am was conducted by enforcement officers and personnel from several agencies such as the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP), Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry (MOA), Immigration Department and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
According to a KPDNHEP source, the fertiliser was kept in the premises for repackaging before it was sold at a higher price.
“During the raid, the enforcement authorities found various brands of fertiliser in the warehouse, believed to have been repackaged from the subsidised fertiliser that was brought from middlemen at between RM10 and RM15 per 25kg bag.
“Then these unscrupulous parties will sell the repackaged fertiliser at a high price of more than RM100 for every 50kg,“ he said.
The source said the fertiliser owner had no licence for fertiliser storage, including fertiliser wholesale licence, which was an offence under the Control of Supplies Regulations 1961.
The 36-year-old owner of the warehouse was arrested and is being investigated under Regulation 3 (1) of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1961, which provides for a compound of up to RM1 million or jail up to three years or both.
A trailer worth about RM150,000 was also seized during the raid, said the source.
Meanwhile, Enforcement Division director Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman confirmed the seizure and the raid.
Kedah Immigration director Zuhair Jamaludin, when contacted, confirmed four Pakistani men, aged between 21 and 27, working at the warehouse were arrested after they failed to produce valid identification papers. — Bernama
