THE meat cartel in Johor, accused of distributing non-halal meat, was using a fruit importing company to bring the uncertified meat products into the country, according to a Sinar Harian report.

According to the Malay-language daily, several proxy companies had misused Bumiputera owned companies to deceive authorities.

“The meat cartel created proxy companies to convince supermarkets and hypermarkets that the frozen meat they supply was halal,” said sources close to the investigation.

The permits issued were for importing fruit but instead it was used for meat, the report said.

Last week, the New Straits Times reported that the Johor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has opened investigations into meat smuggling.

The focus of the probe is on the falsification of the Customs 1 form, which is the declaration of import items; and graft among the agencies involved.

On December 1, in a joint operation, authorities went after a “meat cartel” that smuggled uncertified frozen meat from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and China.

A total of 1,500 tonnes of frozen meat with an estimated value of RM30 million was seized during a raid on a warehouse in Senai Industrial Park, Johor.

The products were said to have been smuggled through Johor’s main seaports, while the warehouse was believed to be where the smugglers generated fake labels and stamps which would then be used on the repackaged meat and sold nationwide.

Authorities said the cartel had been active for years and to avoid detection, they allegedly falsified import documents, permits and halal certificates besides also importing products from legitimate sources and mixing it with their stock.

Sources then said the cartel used a codename as a password for civil servants who were on the cartel’s payroll.

“The code used was ‘red carpet meat’ referring to the meat that was purposely let into the country. It is understood that this is not a new issue, it has been a long time and the officers or members in charge of the cartel will get multiplied wages, especially those working in the country’s major ports.

“The cartel is well versed in port operations including the task of assigning enforcement personnel to pass inspection controls assisted by ‘insiders’,” sources said.

Sinar Harian also discovered that the cartel had carefully arranged the plan by ensuring that the container carrying the smuggled goods to go through the VIP route to pass the inspection and then cash payments will be made to the staff. – December 27, 2020.