A workshop operator's luck turned for the worse when his illegal diesel selling activity was literally 'smelled' by three enforcement agencies.

It started with a team from the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) who went to check his workshop after receiving complaints that waste from his workshop at a shophouse at Km 15, Penrissen Road here was affecting the environment, today.

In trying to evade possible legal action, the operator in his 30s attempted to offer bribes to the NREB personnel but the officers involved refused to accept.

Instead, one of the NREB personnel called up the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which in turn deployed four enforcers to the scene.

They later found a skid tank and a truck carrying tanks fully laden with diesel.

Sensing that the operator was involved in more illegal acts, the MACC enforcement officers relayed their findings to the Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry here.

The ministry's Sarawak director, Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman deployed his enforcement unit to the scene which later reported to him that the workshop operator had no licence to sell the diesel.

"We seized the skid tank, which we believe contained about 10,000 litres while there were another 8,000 litres in the truck cargo bed," he told reporters here.

The value of the truck and the industrial price of the diesel combined was was over RM100,000, he said, adding that the operato could be charged under the Control of Supplies Act 1961, which provides for a penalty of up to RM100,000 or three years' jail or both, upon conviction.

When asked on the whereabouts of the operator, Wan Ahmad said: "The MACC is still questioning him."