KUALA LUMPUR: The Customs Department will be going after traders selling firecrackers online. When contacted yesterday, director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said the Customs Department would work with the police to nab these traders.
The department had over the past two months seized 11 tonnes of fireworks and firecrackers nationwide. Khazali said anyone caught selling, keeping or playing firecrackers and fireworks could be charged under Section 135 (1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967, which provides for a fine of up to 10 times the value of the seized items or not more than RM50,000, and not less than 20 times the value of the seized items or RM100,000, or up to three years in jail.
“This is an ongoing operation by the Customs Department which is being intensified during festive seasons like Hari Raya Aidilfitri. “Selling firecrackers online is a new trend and we are monitoring them with the police,” he said.
A check by the New Straits Times found three online traders actively promoting their merchandise on Facebook, with followers as many as 800. They sell a wide variety of firecrackers with prices ranging from RM10 to RM130. The items sold carry names like “Crazy Robot Bomb”, “Merdeka Tong”, “Bom Asap” and “Dragon Egg”. Imported from China and Thailand, the crackers’ mode of transaction is cash on delivery. These Facebook businesses, which carry explicit names like “Mercun Raya” and “Jual Mercun Murah” seem to have loyal and regular customers. On Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told the NST that the police only allowed the Pop-Pop firecrackers and a specific type of sparklers to be sold in the market.
