SHAH ALAM, Oct 2 — Serious violations involving illegally imported tyres were uncovered in Ops Grip raids at three tyre outlets in Shah Alam today.
The operation was carried out with representatives from eight major tyre manufacturers, alongside enforcement agencies including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Standards and Industrial Research Institute (Sirim) and the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN).
Offences detected included the sale of tyres not brought in through authorised distributors, European-market tyres diverted to Malaysia, tampered labels to conceal the country of origin, and falsified manufacturing dates to pass off old stock as new.
Michelin Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei managing director Florentin Odenwald said labels had been tampered with to prevent consumers from recognising the tyres’ true origin.
“For the Malaysian market, we only import tyres manufactured in Thailand as they are specially formulated for local road and climate conditions,” he said.
Kit Loong Tayaria's general manager Richard Quah said his company also found smuggled Pirelli tyres, noting that genuine imports carry a laser-etched marking which was missing on the seized stock.
Earlier, tyre company representatives met with MACC Special Operations Division senior director Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin at the commission’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to discuss measures to curb tyre smuggling, which poses safety risks to motorists.
He said the companies welcomed the operation as it allowed them to verify the authenticity of the seized tyres.
On Monday (September 29), the MACC uncovered tyre smuggling activities and forged import-export documents, believed to have cost the government an estimated RM350 million in lost tax revenue since 2020.
Following the operation, it also froze several personal and company bank accounts worth an estimated RM70 million.
