Johor police chief M Kumar said a man, who is the company’s manager, claimed to have dealt with an individual, also a Chinese citizen, for a transaction and the money was transferred on July 5 using the company’s bank account registered in Malaysia.

He said the manager claimed that the incident happened after his company was convinced by the individual that the Musang King durian could be imported from Malaysia to China by using an approved permit (AP) of a fruit import export company with an address in Malaysia.

“The company met the individual in China and agreed to buy 3,840 cartons of frozen Musang King durian worth 4.3 million renminbi or RM2.6 million. The complainant’s company then made a cash transfer into a bank account belonging to another company registered in Malaysia as instructed by the individual.

“The company was promised the consignment of frozen Musang King durian within a month after the payment was made.

“However, until now, it has not received the shipment as promised and the individual could not be contacted either,” Kumar said in a statement today.

He said the manager had also asked his friend in Malaysia to locate the company owning the AP and the company confirmed that it had never done business with the company in China.

Kumar said the case is being investigated under Sections 420/411 of the Penal Code (for cheating) and advised the public to be alert and cautious when dealing with unknown individuals.