Penang Commercial Crimes CID chief ACP Abdul Ghani Ahmad said the men, aged between 35 and 50, were detained separately in the state from March 14 to Tuesday.

“We set up a special team to investigate the case after receiving a police report from Bernas on the criminal breach of trust on March 14.

“We detained a Bernas officer at his work place on March 14, before arresting the others, including several more Bernas officers in stages, to help in investigations,” he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

It is learnt that four Bernas officers had been detained by the special police team.

Ghani said apart from the Bernas officers, others detained in the special operation comprised lorry drivers and rice sellers.

He said police also seized several items, including cars, branded watches and laptops.

Based on preliminary investigations, their modus operandi was to sneak out rice from the warehouse without the knowledge of the management and sell it to middlemen, he said.

“Police investigations found those detained had their own roles and were believed to be involved in the activity for about two years,” he said.

He said police were carrying out an in-depth investigation and were looking for several others who could be involved in the case.