Despite the fact that I saw the news item yesterday, this story has been kicking around for a few years. Yesterday’s (Oct. 6, 2011) news item from BERNAMA.com (Malaysia’s National News Agency),
The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry uses nanotechnology to detect smuggled subsidised fuel, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.
Deputy Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said nanotechnology was able to differentiate subsidised fuel through its colour and facilitated investigation in cases of smuggled subsidised fuel brought to court. [emphasis mine]
She was replying to a supplementary question raised by Datuk Ismail Kasim (BN-Arau) who had wanted to know how the government monitored the leakages associated with subsidised fuel.
Rohani also said that the ministry, besides being tipped off by the public, also collaborated with the police, Customs and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in checking the smuggling of subsidised fuel to other countries.
In searching out more information (exactly how do they use nanotechnology to detect subsidised fuel smuggling?) I found this item dating from 2006 on the Meridian Institute website,
Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal said yesterday that Malaysia will use nanotechnology-based testing to detect the smuggling of subsidized diesel fuel out of the country. Malaysia subsidizes diesel fuel, and it is having a problem with illegal traders in the fuel, and with people from neighboring countries who drive in to fill their gas tanks. Shafie said that the Malaysian government would sign a deal this week with a U.S. company for use of the nanotech-based detection technology. Use of the technology, Shafie said, will be extended nationwide. [According to a related article (Malaysian National News Agency; March 30), Shafie said that his ministry is already using “the nanotechnology method using the DNA formula to detect the distribution locations of subsidized fuel,” apparently to prevent discrepancies in the distribution of the fuel within Malaysia.]
Meridian does provide a link to the original news item on BERNAMA but it is no longer available. Luckily, there was this March 16, 2007 news item on Nanowerk,
And here is our slow news Friday entry: A Malaysian newspaper reports that the use of nanotechnology has allowed the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to confiscate smuggled and illegally used subsidised diesel worth more than half-a-million ringgit (approx. US$140,000).
…
Called the NanoTag programme, introduced last November, this is a system of ‘tagging’ subsidised diesel with nanoparticles at distribution depots of all fuel companies around the country before the product is being distributed.
A “Nano Strike Team”, a special task force comprising 150 of the ministry’s enforcement officers, supported by the Chemistry Department for forensic analysis conducts frequent and unscheduled spot checks on between 7,000 and 10,000 commercial premises using diesel across the nation. Enforcement officers can trace the nanotag using a special kit that can produce results in just three minutes. [emphasis mine]
…
Based on the sampling, it was estimated that the total volume of subsidised diesel abuse in the country had reached 225 million litres or losses worth approx US$ 45 million in terms of government subsidies.
The ministry’s enforcement division deputy director-general (operations) Iskandar Halim Sulaiman said the use of nanotechnology to detect subsidised diesel had managed to halve cases involving misuse of the fuel, reducing the number of smuggling cases.
It seems that despite nano tagging, fuel smuggling remains a viable business.
(I assume that the colour change that Rohani mentions refers to how they actually trace the nanotag. Perhaps like a pregnancy test, dip a paper strip into the fuel, wait three minutes to see if it changes colour?) As for Nanowerk and the slow news Friday in 2007, I note this is also Friday but I just found this interesting, plus I don’t often have an excuse to write about Malaysia.
ETA October 8, 2011: Yikes, corrected the typo in the headline from subsidiwed to subsidized.