KOTA BARU: Marine police foiled attempts to smuggle out about RM1.6 million worth of fuel along the Malaysia-Thai border in the first five months of the year.
However, there was a drastic drop in fuel smuggling in June, when the government started rationalising diesel subsidies.
From January to May, marine police stopped 125 attempts to smuggle out 573,000 litres of diesel and 19,000 litres of petrol, said Bukit Aman marine police commander Senior Assistant Norzaid Muhammad Said.
He said 56 people were arrested, most of them suspected smugglers.
"The diesel that we seized was worth about RM1.53 million and the petrol was valued about RM67,000," he told the New Straits Times.
Norzaid said marine police detected no attempts to smuggle diesel after the government rationalised diesel subsidies on June 10.
"Since June, we only recorded seven cases of petrol smuggling to the neighbouring country with the seizure of 900 litres worth RM1,845.
"This shows that the government's efforts to rationalise subsidies is effective in combating diesel smuggling in the peninsula," he added.
He said police would continue to beef up its intelligence, operations, patrols and inspections to curb the smuggling of fuel and other goods along the border.
"Patrol boats will monitor the border continuously and at the same time, we will continue our cooperation with our counterpart in the neighbouring country, especially exchange information about illegal activities.
"Joint operations with other border agencies, particularly those in Kelantan, will also continue," he added.