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Lorry driver abandons vehicle, flees with tonto to avoid arrest

BUKIT MERTAJAM: A lorry driver abandoned his vehicle, which was modified for misappropriation of subsidised diesel, by the side of the road at Bandar Perda here on Saturday before fleeing with a tonto after realising he was being tailed.

State Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) director S. Jegan said in the operation dubbed 'Op Tiris', the enforcement team tracked down the suspicious-looking seven-tonne lorry filing up its tanks at several petrol stations in the area before tailing it.

He said at the same time the tonto was believed to have tailed the enforcement team.

"As soon as it approached the side of the Perda City Mall shopping complex, which is no longer operational, the lorry driver is believed to have received information from the tonto about our presence.

"He abandoned his vehicle and fled with the tonto to avoid arrest.

"Checks inside the lorry revealed an additional metal tank at its rear, filled with 6,000 litres of diesel, two units of motor pumps and a hose on the floor of the lorry for the purpose of drawing in diesel from the original tank," he told newsmen here today.

He said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to purchase diesel from petrol stations and collecting them in a temporary storage area before being sold to the industry.

"We believe the syndicate had used the tonto to monitor the enforcement team's movements.

"We seized the diesel, lorry and other equipment, all of which were worth RM73,500," he said, adding that efforts to track down the syndicate network was underway.

Since the start of Op Tiris, from March 1 until yesterday, the state KPDN had recorded eight cases involving seizure of subsidised diesel totalling 50,350 litres as well as lorries, bringing the total seizure to RM369,231.

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