ALOR STAR: Twenty controlled items will be barred from being taken out of the country in a move to check the outflow of subsidised goods.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal said the items included sugar, condensed milk, rice, cement, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
He said those caught smuggling any of the items listed in the Control of Supplies Act 1961 risked being fined RM100,000 or jailed two years.
“A meeting will be held next week with all the relevant enforcement agencies before we implement the ban, hopefully before the end of the month.
“We are taking such drastic action to check the shortage of essential goods and to prevent financial losses to the Government,” he said yesterday after giving a briefing on price increase issues at the Universiti Kolej Insaniah hall.
Currently, action is taken only against those caught smuggling diesel, flour and cooking oil.
Smuggling of essential goods has become rampant because flour, sugar, diesel, petrol, LPG, cooking oil and chicken are among the cheapest in the region and even in the world.
Shafie said cooking oil had been banned from being sold at the Rantau Panjang Duty Free Area since Jan 7 after enforcement officers discovered last month that one-third of the 2,600 tonnes of cooking oil supply to Kelantan was concentrated in the area.
“We believe the cooking oil was smuggled into Thailand,” he said.
The ministry is also planning to compel the commercial sector to buy non-subsidised cooking oil that is sold at RM62 per tin of 17kg.
Players in the commercial sector including hawkers and small and medium enterprises tend to buy the subsidised cooking oil in packets and bottles that only cost RM42.50 for the same weight.
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