KOTA BARU: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will make a concerted effort to track down those responsible for smuggling subsidised Malaysian cooking oil across the Thai border.
Its enforcement director, Azman Adam, said this was the key to enabling them to detect those involved in the overall leakage of the subsidised oil supply chain.
He said the ministry, together with all border enforcement agencies, would coordinate their actions to tackle the issue.
"We will carry out an immediate investigation to establish where subsidised Malaysian cooking oil is being sold out of the country.
"A chain detection process will be carried out in terms of which brands are involved and who is responsible for shipping them out of Malaysia," he told the New Straits Times.
Azman gave his assurances that the authorities would not haul up the brand owners without any proof.
"The producers cannot be directly blamed. Sometimes, the stock is sold to suppliers and later distributed elsewhere without the knowledge of the producers."
Azman said Kelantan had 16 packet cooking oil manufacturers in the state.
Nationwide, there are 305 licensed packers given the authority to package the 1kg subsidised cooking oil, 22 manufacturers, 4,151 wholesalers and more than 30,000 retailers.
Azman, during a recent visit to Kelantan, said high demand and significant price differences were among the key factors contributing to the leakage in the supply chain of subsidised cooking oil to neighbouring countries such as Thailand.
He said discussions were held recently with all relevant agencies to address the issue.
He noted that apart from border control, the ministry would also focus on efforts to prevent the abuse of subsidised cooking oil for profit by irresponsible quarters.
The NST had earlier reported on how subsidised Malaysian cooking oil was widely available for sale in some Thai border towns such as Sungai Golok and Tak Bai.
However, checks at the Tak Bai market showed that while the item was still available, the supply was slightly reduced compared to last month.
The decrease in supply had been widely attributed to stricter checks by border enforcement agencies along the Tak Bai river, which separates Pengkalan Kubor in Tumpat from Tak Bai town in Thailand.