Ministry seizes fake Diamond aluminium foils

KUCHING: Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry officers raided three retails shop in the city and confiscated more than 100 fake Diamond brand aluminium foils.

The operation was initiated after the owner of the aluminium foil company flew all the way from Kuala Lumpur to lodge a police report here.

After it was made, the ministry dispatched an enforcement team comprising 12 officers led by assistant enforcement officer Hazlan Abdul Kadir and went to a retail shop in Mile 13, Jalan Kuching-Serian, one in Semariang Baru and another in Petra Jaya.

The store owners had their statements taken, and all aluminium foils found at the premises were confiscated.

According to enforcement officer Robin Emerson Empurai, the case would be investigated under Section 5 (1)(b) of the Trade Descriptions Act 2011.

Under the Act, the suppliers who offer to supply any goods to which a false trade description is applied would be liable to a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, for first offence.

For a second or subsequent offence, convicted suppliers could face a fine not exceeding RM250,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or both.

Robin said to the naked eye, the fake foils looked the same as the genuine ones.

Consumers had to open the cover and look closer at the foils to notice the difference — the fake ones would have less aluminium foils.

“We are trying to protect the consumers here. We do not know what the counterfeit aluminium foils are made of. Since it is used in the kitchen commonly for packaging, baking and cooking food, who knows if the counterfeit brand is poisonous.

“We won’t know if we don’t look closely,” said Robin, who spoke on behalf of the ministry’s state director during a press conference here.

Merchants are warned against selling counterfeit items.