POLICE seized 19,400 litres of diesel worth RM417,710 and arrested 16 people in a raid at a premises in the Semambu Industrial area, which is believed to have been used as a store, yesterday. 

Pahang acting police chief Abd Razak Mohd Yusoff said the raid was conducted following a seven-day stakeout. 

Prior to the raid, he said, the Brigade Tenggara and Battalion 7 of the General Operations Force intercepted a lorry, which was carrying two tanks of diesel, at Jalan Perindustrian Semambu.

This then led the police, along with a team from the Penang enforcement branch of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, to raid a store, where they found 38 tanks – 34 of them containing diesel of between 200 and 900 litres per tank, he said in a statement today.

Razak said police also seized three lorries, six cars, suction pumps, two hoses, one electric generator, 81 receipts for the purchase of diesel from different petrol stations, and 16 mobile phones.

All the suspects, aged between 18 and 65, have been handed over to the ministry branch for investigation under Section 21 of the Control of Supplies Act 1961. – Bernama, September 4, 2022.