KUBANG PASU: The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) seized 15,800 litres of subsidised diesel in two separate raids in Kedah yesterday.
Its state director Muhammad Nizam Jamaludin said in the first raid, the ministry's enforcement team has seized a tanker that was filling up diesel at a fuel station in Jalan Muda Kuari, Jitra here.
"In the 8.30pm raid, we found 6,000 litres of diesel worth RM12,900 stored in the trailer without a proper permit.
"Following the raid, we have arrested the fuel station owner for investigation after checks showed that there was no one else there or the tanker driver who is believed to have fled from the scene," he told reporters here today.
Nizam added that the second raid was carried out by the 18th Battalion of the General Operations Force at a store in Kuala Kedah.
He said the raiding party has seized 9,800 litres of diesel worth RM21,070 and four lorries, including equipment to transfer fuel.
"Eight local men and a foreigner in their 20s and 60s have been detained during the raid with the total seizure value estimated at RM149,020," he said.
He said KPDN is investigating whether the subsidised diesel was meant to be sold to the industry or to be smuggled to neighbouring countries.