KOTA BHARU (June 19): The Kelantan branch of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living plans to install its own closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at petrol stations along the state's Malaysia-Thailand border area for monitoring purposes.

Kelantan director of the ministry Azman Ismail said that for a start, CCTV cameras will be installed at selected stations that are believed to be frequented by fuel smugglers.

He said that this measure is aimed at preventing repeated fuel purchases that are suspected to be for smuggling purposes.

“Currently, the ministry's approach is to station enforcement officers at selected stations in Tumpat and Pasir Mas,” he told Bernama.

Azman said that with the installation of these CCTV cameras, the ministry can monitor activities from the office and take action easily if smuggling occurs.

Azman added the matter is still under discussion with oil companies and has not been finalised yet.

“At present, petrol stations already have their own CCTV cameras, and if monitoring is to be done, our officers need to go to the station to view its CCTV recording.

“What we want is for monitoring to be done from our office,” he said.

According to him, there are 46 petrol stations within a 20-km radius in the border districts where fuel smugglers were active.

Posted by Lam Seng Fatt