JOHOR BAHRU: Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) confiscated about 40,000 litre of diesel from a tanker ship at Tanjung Pelepas Port, Gelang Patah, here, over alleged illegal ship-to-ship (STS) transfer.
Its state director, Khairul Anwar Bachok, said the seizure of the fuel worth about RM84,000 was conducted at 12.30pm incident on Oct 10 after the Southern Region Marine Department handed over the vessel which it had detained earlier.
He said the raid on the locally-registered ship was carried out under Merchant Shipping Ordinance (MSO) 1952 and Control of Supplies Act 1961.
“Their (ship crew) modus operandi is to approach other container ships and offered to sell fuel to them. Once the sale is agreed upon, the tanker ship would inch closer to the other vessel and make the fuel transfer.
“Investigation revealed that the tanker ship owner does not hold bunkering license (for STS fuel transfer) by the ministry,” he said in a media conference at the ministry’s Senai store today.
Khairul Anwar said the tanker ship, along with its seven crew aged 38 to 48 were detained at the Southern Region Marine Department office to facilitate investigation under Section 21 of the Control of Supplies Act and Regulation 3 (1) of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974.
He said first-time offenders were liable to a fine up to RM1 million or jail term of up to three years, or both.
Second and subsequent offences each carries a maximum penalty of RM3 million and five years’ jail.
“Meanwhile, the company is liable to a fine of up to RM2 million for the first offence and RM5 million for each of the subsequent offences,” he said.
On a separate matter, he said Johor KPDNHEP had so far prosecuted 38 cases under its jurisdiction involving a total RM1.1 million fines since early this year.
He said the amount exceeded the overall fines of RM100,000 meted out by the court for cases involving among others Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), diesel, counterfeit items and computer software.