Malaysian Customs Confiscates Israeli Dates

UnSPLASH/Levi Meirncy Date/ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Malaysian Royal Customs Department (JKDM) confiscated dates believed to be from Israel.

Reported by ANTARA, Thursday, March 14, Minister of Domestic Trade and the Cost of Living Arrizan Mohd Ali during a People's Council Session, said Customs and Excise had seized 73 boxes of dates branded Organic Jumbo Medjool Dates which are believed to be from Israel.

At the same time, according to him, local residents around 40 years old who are believed to be commercial owners were also detained and investigated in operations carried out in a number of warehouses in the northern port of Klang, Selangor.

He also said that the action to follow existing laws is imposed on any party who provides counterfeit merchandise, both of the type, content, the name of the product.

JKDM conducted operations after the sale of dates believed to have originated in Israel was revealed on social media on Monday (11/3).

Based on the results of the JKDM investigation, it is known that the dates were purchased in large quantities together with other organic items from a country in Europe. Furthermore, after arriving in Malaysia, the dates are repackaged but the content or nutrients must be included in the packaging label.

The date packaging label contains the name of the product country which turns out to be from Israel, according to JKDM to the media.

The total value of the dates believed to be from Israel weighing 14.6 kilograms confiscated by Customs and Excise reached 678 Malaysian ringgit (RM) or more than Rp. 2.2 million.

According to Armizan, such operations will be carried out again, and people who have information are asked to report it completely through existing platforms.

His party also carried out price monitoring operations that had been carried out since Tuesday (12/3), not only at Ramadan bazaars but also retailers, supermarkets, traditional markets so that there would be no problems and price profit during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

In two days, they had examined 3,099 retailers and found 11 cases, six of which were profit-taking efforts.