Busted: The truck carrying sacks of cooking oil seized in Sandakan.
KOTA KINABALU: Marine police on the east coast of Sandakan district foiled an attempt to smuggle subsidised cooking oil to neighbouring islands in the Philippines.
However, the smugglers managed to flee after seeing an approaching marine police patrol boat as they were unloading the oil packages stored in sacks at a riverbank at Kampung Sugai Bakau here at about 4.30pm on Sunday.
The smugglers fled towards a swamp along the river, abandoning the cooking oil that was loaded onto a vehicle, marine police sources said.
It was learnt that marine police were patrolling the riverbank area when they came across the group of men unloading goods from the vehicle.
Marine police recovered 50 sacks containing 850 packets of subsidised cooking oil believed to be worth about RM2,125, sources added.
Marine Police Region 4 commander Asst Comm Ahmad Ariffin confirmed that the vehicle concerned was also seized.
The total value of the seizure was estimated at about RM28,000.
He said the case will be handed over to the Sandakan branch of the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry.
