KUCHING, Feb 12 — The marine police force seized 430,000 litres of subsidised diesel worth about RM924,500 from a vessel berthed along the Sarawak River yesterday morning, state director of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) Matthew Dominic Barin said today.

He said the seized diesel and the vessel were later handed over to the ministry for further investigation and follow-up actions.

"The marine police also detained a local man and a Myanmar national, both were also handed over to KPDN,” Matthew said in a statement.

He added the total value of all the items seized was estimated to be around RM5 million.

He said the case is being investigated under Section 21 of the Supply Control Act 1961 for possessing or in control of the controlled items in a suspicious manner.

"We will conduct further investigation into the case and identify individuals and companies involved in this illegal activity or in the distribution network, including the supply source of the diesel and whoever is involved,” he said.

Matthew said that based on the statistics for Sarawak under Ops Tiris carried out from March 1 to December 31 last year, KPDN has seized 6,554,327 litres of subsidised diesel valued at almost RM7 million, involving 121 cases.

He said KPDN enforcement personnel had carried out 991 checks on petrol stations and diesel wholesalers during the period.

Matthew said the checks were to ensure that the petrol stations and wholesalers complied with the Supply Control Act.