PETALING JAYA, April 23 — The owner of a cloned car had his vehicle seized twice yesterday.

Sources revealed the owner of a Honda Odyssey, bought from a syndicate that brings in scrap cars from Singapore, voluntarily surrendered his vehicle to the Road Transport Department (RTD) office in Bandar Baru Bangi yesterday.

He returned hours later to retrieve his car, saying he wanted to lodge a police report instead.

RTD officers allowed him to take the car so he could lodge a report at the Kajang police station. Police later seized his car for further investigation.

“This is now a police case and they will also join in the investigations over scrap cars being used illegally in the country,” the source said.

Another two owners surrendered their BMW and Mercedes Benz respectively at the  Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) offices in Negri Sembilan yesterday.

On Tuesday, MACC and RTD revealed they had seized 153 cloned vehicles, mostly from Terengganu and Kelantan, worth RM13 million. Most of them, including two high-powered motorcycles, were scrap vehicles from Singapore. During its six-month sting, the authorities had nabbed 10 people, including three middlemen.

They expect to make more arrests and seize more vehicles.

Last week, Negri Sembilan MACC arrested seven people and compounded 14 vehicles worth over RM1.5 million, believed to have been smuggled from neighbouring countries.

In a statement yesterday, MACC intelligence division director Datuk Azam Baki said the anti-graft body and RTD will conduct a massive sweep for cloned vehicles and their owners will be hauled up.

“The owners will be called in for questioning to assist investigations for owning vehicles without valid documents. Those who have bought used cars from Singapore through illegal means should immediately surrender their vehicles to the nearest MACC office,” he said.

Owning such vehicles is an offence under the MACC Act 2009 and the Road Transport Act 1987, the statement read.

“MACC Negri Sembilan also arrested a man on Monday, believed to be a syndicate member. The 26-year-old was released after his statement was recorded,” added Azam.