KUCHING: The porous Sarawak—Kalimantan border makes it easy for syndicates to smuggle out in-demand subsidised goods such as diesel, cooking oil and other commodities.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Fuziah Salleh said today.
She said the insufficient number of border checkpoints along the approximately 1,032km border poses a huge challenge to law enforcement officers.
She said the smuggling of diesel and cooking oil had contributed to leakages in Sarawak.
Fuziah said 119 cases were reported through 2,558 checks conducted under Op Tiris.
"Smugglers use various methods to smuggle these goods across the border," she said during a working visit to the state in conjunction with the "Kita Gempur" programme here.
One of them was to use houses close to the border to store the goods before moving them out, she said.
The ministry's office here recently seized ten metric tonnes of subsidised cooking oil stored in premises near the border.
To address the issue, the Domestic Trade's office is enhancing cooperation with other agencies, including the police and the military, to help curb smuggling activities, Fuziah said.