To ban or not to ban, to consfiscate or not to confiscate. That is truly the question for the vaping community in Malaysia.
Shortly after it was announced that the Health Ministry was looking to implement an excise tax on e-cigarettes and vapes, raids on vape outlets were conducted nationwide.
TRP quoted Vape Empire Malaysia CEO Zachary Oh as saying that officers from the ministry had raided at least 10 of his outlets nationwide, confiscating at least 8,000 bottles as at press time. About RM200,000 worth of the products had been seized in his chain of stores.
Oh is of course not pleased, as he claimed that the ministry was acting unfairly for not giving prior warning to vape shop owners and vape juice resellers to cease sales. He also said that he has tried to hold engagements with the ministry many times but they refused to have talks.
The hasty raids also irked Malaysian E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta) president Allen Foo, who said that the raids would affect livelihoods. He added that vape outlets should’ve been given a time frame to offload their stock before banning nicotine-laced juices.
“They have said much about the potential threats of vaping but why are they attacking what is potentially harmful when cigarettes clearly have adverse effects?” Foo asked.
As at time of writing, the Health Ministry has not responded to the above matter. More details to come.
Source: TRP.
