KOTA BARU: Smugglers operating along the Kelantan/Thai border are willing to spend up to RM1,000 to modify the tanks of their sedans to transport RON95 out from Malaysia.
State Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry director Azman Ismail said they discovered this in the latest series of operations.
He said the ministry seized 196 cars used by smugglers to transport the fuel to the country since early this year.
Out of the figure, 147 were sedans while the rest were four-wheel-drives and other types of vehicles.
"Smugglers are willing to spend between RM600 to RM1,000 to modify the tanks of their cars to enable them to fill as much RON95 and also diesel as they can.
"They will use old cars, a majority of these vehicles were produced in 1990s such as Proton Saga, Proton Iswara Aeroback and Proton Wira to transport the fuel out of the country.
"The fuel will be sent to the neighbouring country via the many illegal jetties along the Golok river," he told the New Straits Times.
He said these types of cars were the favourite vehicles among smugglers as their prices were cheap.
"The cars are priced about RM5,000 each and smugglers could easily obtain them from local suppliers.
"The sedans were categorised as 'smuggler's cars' because they have no roadtax and smugglers will not suffer a 'big loss' when the cars were confiscated by the authorities," he added.
Azman said the sedans were used vehicles and the smugglers would not have to claim them if they were confiscated.
Last week, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the smuggling of RON95 to Thailand has grown since April as the fuel is retailing there at three times the price in Malaysia.
He said the rationalisation of the diesel subsidy in Malaysia is also making smugglers switch their focus to RON95.
He added the upsurge in the activity has been detected in Kelantan and Kedah.
Armizan said smugglers realised they could make a bigger profit from the sale of RON95 in Thailand.