Utusan Malaysia reported that the customers had already filled their shopping trolleys and queued up at the cashier counters since morning. — Picture courtesy of Twitter/Ali Abu Atan

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Over 1,000 customers reportedly flooded the Econsave hypermarket in Pontian, Johor, following rumour that Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim would again foot the bill on groceries.

Social media posts showed that customers had already filled their shopping trolleys and queued up at the cashier counters since 10.30am.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Econsave operations manager Mas Imran Adam denied the rumour as “fake news”.

“We believe there was a voice note that was passed around yesterday alleging that TMJ would be present at Econsave Pontian at 12pm today to sponsor groceries to the public. But we have checked with the police and they confirmed it was fake,” he said, referring to the Tengku Mahkota Johor.

“Despite the police arriving there this morning to help disperse the crowd, some were still hopeful, stating that TMJ would arrive at 12.30pm, but that too was untrue.

“We have made several announcements to deny the news but some people were adamant that TMJ will come,” he said.

Mas Imran said the hypermart would now have to take up to two days to clear and put all the items taken by customers back to their rightful place.

Khabar angin hari ini kata tmj nak datang econsave pontian nak belanja customer yg datang pukul 12, nah kau berduyun orang dari 10.30 pagi. Siapa entah yg sebar khabar angin, kesian yg bersungguh datang bersesak. pic.twitter.com/3WLnjl9G93 — Ali Abu Atan (@TheKuthiq) April 12, 2018

Yesterday, hundreds of shoppers rushed to Aeon Mall supermarket in Tebrau City after word was spread that the Tunku Ismail was paying for the groceries amounting to about RM1 million.

The Johor crown prince and his wife Che’ Puan Khaleeda Bustamam were shopping in the mall when he decided to treat “his subjects” to essential groceries.

It was learnt that the allocation was about RM3,000 per trolley and the “shopping spree” started at 7pm as Tunku Ismail announced it through a loud hailer surrounded by shoppers.

The hour-long spree saw hundreds of shoppers rushing and loading their trolleys with groceries.

The supermarket was temporarily closed this morning and some parts remain shuttered, purportedly to clean the mess caused by shoppers who were left out.