5 days ago
Pakistani among 5 arrested for rubber latex smuggling in Perak
IPOH: A Pakistani national was among five people detained by the General Operations Force (GOF) for involvement in rubber latex smuggling activities over the past two months.
Northern Brigade GOF commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner Shahrum Hashim, said they were arrested at 2.30am on Friday during Op Intra.
"We also seized over 35,400kg of rubber latex, a tanker truck, as well as various machinery and equipment used to transfer the rubber latex.
"The operation was carried out by the Intelligence Branch of the GOF Northern Brigade, with assistance from the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB), Taiping Municipal Council, and Taiping district police headquarters," he said.
He added that the operations team tracked a tanker truck carrying rubber latex from Kedah to a premises in Taiping, where the suspects, aged between 32 and 59, were transferring the rubber latex using hoses.
"At the premises, they transferred the rubber latex using hoses into an IBC tank (bulk storage tank) with a capacity of 1,000kg.
"An inspection found that the tanker truck driver had sold 900kg of rubber latex, using a trick by replacing the weight of the sold latex by placing several weights on the body of the tanker.
"This was done so that the customer receiving the rubber latex would not notice the reduction in weight during the re-weighing process," he said in a statement today.
He added that the total value of the seizure was estimated to be more than RM789,000.
"The Pakistani man detained was found to have violated the conditions of his work permit, an offence under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
"He was handed over to the police, while the other four detainees and the seized items were handed over to the MRB for further investigation," he said.
The case is being investigated under the Malaysian Rubber Board Licensing and Permit Regulations 2014, namely Regulation 3(1)(a) and Regulation 7(1)(f).
He added that fines and licence cancellations could be imposed by the MRB if a breach of licence conditions is proven.
