Nanotag team continues to strike at illegal users

Malaysia’s Nanotag Strike Team headed by Ahmad Dahuri Mahmud, deputy director-general of enforcement for the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, said it will continue to check on the illegal use of subsidized diesel fuel in the country, with particular focus on Semporna and Lahad Datu in Sabah. In a pilot project conducted by the strike team last November, it found 2,161 tagged diesel fuel among the 2,694 commercial premises inspected, or 70%. Subsidized diesel fuel, which are sold to fishermen for RM1 (US$0.29) per liter, have increasingly been ending up in the hands of commercial enterprises, which pay RM1.59 (US$0.46) per liter for the fuel. In 2005, the percent of subsidized diesel fuel being sold rose to 70%, from only 25% in 2002, due to this illegal practice. Last year, Malaysia launched a Nanotag program, wherein a fuel marker is injected into the subsidized diesel fuel. If we can save between RM700 million to RM1 billion (US$203-290 million) this year, then it is worth having this technology, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal. (March 18, 2007)