KANGAR: The state Malaysia Border Security Agency (Aksem) foiled an attempt to smuggle two tonnes of cooking oil into a neighbouring country on Wednesday.
The agency seized the commodity from four vehicles in separate inspections at the Aksem static roadblock in Wang Kelian.
Perlis Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism deputy director Jamal Nor Ahmad Harun said Aksem had arrested four men aged between 30 and 40 following the cooking oil seizure.
He said one of them was Malaysian who was transporting the commodity in a lorry while the other three were Thai nationals who were travelling in separate pick-up trucks.
"In the first seizure, the agency found 1,700 packets of 1kg cooking oil in the lorry, with market value of RM4,250.
"The agency also seized several kilogrammes of cooking oil and 24kg of flour from one of the pick-up trucks, and 36 packets of 1kg cooking oil were seized from the other two pick-up trucks.
Jamal added that investigation was ongoing to trace the source of the commodities and was not ruling out the possibility that the men could belong to a cross-border trafficking syndicate.