KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Banned from selling e-cigarettes and its liquid refills in Kelantan from January 1, vape traders have rejected the Kelantan government’s one-month grace period to wrap up their business.

The traders called the offer a “mockery” and have banded together into a group called Solidarity V Kelantan to initiate legal action against the PAS-led state government expected to be filed this month, to force it to retract the ban and prevent raids and seizures of their properties.

“Our lawyer is studying the details and the injunction is expected to be filed in court by the middle of the month,” the group’s spokesman Mohd Khaleb Khan Nasir Khan was quoted by daily New Straits Times as saying in Kota Baru yesterday.

Mohd Khaleb also denied the state’s allegation that traders had not objected to the state’s denial of business permits for vape traders during a meeting with state Local Authorities, Housing, Youth and Sports executive councillor Datuk Abdul Fattah Mahmud last week.

Mohd Khaleb said traders had only attended the meeting to submit a memorandum to Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob and Fattah appealing for a suspension of the ban until federal authorities decide on the vape issue.

The Kelantan government had earlier ordered the ban to be imposed on January 1 but subsequently postponed after the said meeting.

Apart from Kelantan, other states that have imposed the ban on vapes from January 1 are Penang, Kedah, Johor and Terengganu.

Terengganu yesterday, however, announced that it will give traders up to six months to wrap up their businesses and clear stock before enforcing the ban.