Illegal Cartel Crackdown on Neither Beef nor Halal Meat smuggling and Sold As Halal Product in M’sia
The New Straits Times has exposed the activities of a syndicate that is smuggling in noncertified meat and sold it in Malaysia as Halal product which the frozen meat imported by the cartel from these noncertified countries is not limited to beef but also including horse meat and kangaroo meat.
This item which upon arriving in Malaysia it will be mixed with beef in warehouse nationwide run by this cartel before being sold to unknown suppliers, as a source told New Straits Times that among the stock which they are bringing in are worrying because there are kangaroo meat, horse meat and beef and the beef is from animals of poor quality and even diseased.
The cartel purchased this meat for 50% cheaper than would be shipped to Malaysia and ferried out via trucks and lorries to the cartel warehouse where it will be mixed with certified halal meat. Currently, there are over 60 containers of these good where bought between November last year to April into Northport and Westport in Port Klang. The source of this container included Canada, Colombia, Ukraine, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Hong Kong, and China.
The source also mentioned that in the potential the government revenue could lose from the smuggling is estimated to be around rm1.5 million a month and corrupted government officials were willing to take bribes between Rm150 to RM3,000 to close their eye to enable these cargoes to be released. On Officier on the ground, allegedly received payouts of between RM150 and Rm500 to release container.
Each container had about 25 tonnes of meat which will be sent to cartel warehouse for repackaging and slapped with bogus halal stickers. On NST yesterday’s front page, how senior and junior officers in at least 4 government agencies were bribed by the cartel to ensure that the supply of this non-certified meat enter the country and bypassed checks.
The report also stated that the cartel’s activities had been going on for 40 years and these cartel’s operations had a solid system in place to ensure that the product from the slaughterhouse until they leave the ports escaped all official scrutiny. Jakim and Veterinary Services Departments are understood to be responsible for the certification and quality of the imports items. While the Malaysian Department of Quarantine and Inspection Services, Royal Custom Departments, and port police are in charge of managing the supplies once they enter into Malaysian ports.