Malaysia pumps up police action at border petrol stations to curb subsidised fuel leaks

Malaysia has deployed police to dozens of petrol stations along its borders as it moves to stop subsidised fuel from leaking out of the country, with the government linking the tougher enforcement to a global energy crunch triggered by the Iran war. The Southeast Asian nation shares borders with Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Police said 36 petrol stations had been classified as “hotspots” and another 55 as high-risk locations. The deployments began at 6am on Wednesday across Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak. Acting internal security and public order director Fisol Salleh said in a statement late on Wednesday that General Operations Force personnel and state contingent officers had been sent to stations identified as “locations for leakages of subsidised fuel, especially in areas near the national border”. The move followed an increase in suspected leakages “influenced by current factors, including the dynamics of the global energy crisis”, he said. Malaysia is trying to prevent its heavily subsidised petrol and diesel from being siphoned across land and sea borders, a long-standing problem that has become more urgent as global energy markets roil. Reuters reported on Thursday that Brent crude had fallen 44 US cents to US$94.49 a barrel on hopes of renewed US-Iran talks, but the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for about a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG flows, remained central to market fears. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last Friday the country had enough fuel reserves to meet domestic demand through April and May. Earlier this month, his government also pushed for work-from-home arrangements for civil servants to “reduce fuel consumption and ensure the sustainability of energy supply”. State energy firm Petronas said on Wednesday that fuel supply at all of its stations was secured until the end of June. Subsidy criminals The latest enforcement push follows a series of recent cases. In Johor Bahru on Monday, a man in his fifties became the first person arrested under Malaysia’s tighter rules after allegedly filling a Singapore-registered car with subsidised RON95 petrol. Johor enforcement officials said the arrest was made during an operation at about 10pm at a petrol station in the southern state’s capital. Since April 1, individuals caught filling up foreign-registered cars with RON95 petrol will be treated the same as fuel smugglers or those in illegal possession of subsidised diesel or petrol. The offence carries a penalty of a maximum fine of 1 million ringgit (US$253,000), up to three years in jail, or both. In Sabah on Malaysian Borneo, two men were arrested on Wednesday after undercover enforcement officers allegedly found two vehicles modified to channel subsidised diesel into larger storage tanks at a petrol station, according to local media reports. The seized diesel and vehicles were worth 22,745 ringgit, Sabah domestic trade and cost of living director Shahril Nizam Shahidin said. Nationally, the domestic trade ministry said the enforcement team had logged 239 cases and 68 arrests, with seizures worth 11 million ringgit. Fisol said the police deployment was part of an integrated operation with the domestic trade ministry to “strengthen control and enforcement in border areas”, ensure subsidised fuel reached those eligible for it and stop leakages “that could jeopardise national interests”. He added that police would keep intensifying operations through “continuous monitoring, stronger intelligence and strategic cooperation” with other agencies. In a special briefing on Tuesday, Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said the government was stepping up action against “leakages, hoarding and smuggling” involving subsidised diesel and petrol under Ops Tiris 4.0, as Putrajaya moved to protect supplies and contain the fallout from the energy shock. “The government sees this not merely as an oil issue, but as an issue of cost of living, supply-chain resilience and national economic security,” he said.

Malaysia pumps up police action at border petrol stations to curb subsidised fuel leaks

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Malaysia is trying to prevent its heavily subsidised petrol and diesel from being siphoned across land and sea borders as the global energy crisis bites

Malaysia is trying to prevent its heavily subsidised petrol and diesel from being siphoned across land and sea borders as the global energy crisis bites