Charles Fernandez The Star 28 Jun 10;
BILLIONS of ringgit is being lost through illegal sand mining in the state and questions are being thrown at the authorities as to how the sand is being shipped out under their noses.
The Sepang district council have come under fire recently as Dengkil, Jenderam and several areas in Puchong have been repeatedly mentioned as illegal sand-mining hotspots.
And what has the Land Office been doing when accusations are being hurled at them that sand pirates are siphoning out the commodity with impunity.
Sepang district officer Mohd Amin Ahmad Ahya in a recent interview said they have been acting against illegal sand mining operators since January and had thus far managed to close down 12 hotspots – the biggest being in Puchong Mas where the operators were said to be raking in more than RM4mil annually.
However he contended that while closing these hotspots were not easy, monitoring them was even more difficult as enforcement officers were consistently being harassed whenever they made their rounds to these areas.
“We believe there are many more mines and we are constantly surveying the areas but the touts are not making it any easier for us. Since the closure of some of the hotspots, our movements are constantly being monitored.
“Some of our officers face intimidation from them but fortunately nothing untoward has happened as they (enforcement officers) have kept their cool,’’ added Mohd Amin.
During a visit to some of the closed illegal sand mining areas recently, we were constantly tailgated by at least three or more four-wheelers with multiple antennas on their vehicles, supposedly radioing the operators to ensure that the lorries did not exit paths where our vehicle was heading.
The touts were on our trail the entire three hours.
Assistant district officer Azri Effendy Abu Sujak said more often than not, the Land Office had faced resistance from these operators when they were ordered to cease operations.
Azri said the operators were first issued the 7A for flouting the law, the 7B asking them to explain why action should be taken against them and finally the 8A – confiscation of the land.
“We have been successful so far in our endeavour to control further illegal sand mining activities in the district.
“However there are fingers being pointed` at us for allowing sand mining activities along riverbanks,’’ he said.
Azri said the Land Office had allowed sand mining along Sungai Langat, Sungai Labu, Sungai Rasau, Sungai Semenyih, Sungai Jenderam and Sungai Semerang to private operators to mine sand disposed off at the rivers when they are on the run from enforcement officers.
He said Sepang district shares a common boundary with Kuala Langat, Ulu Langat and Nilai and the Land Office has also been accused of closing an eye on sand mining activities when in reality the stealing is not in their area.
Azri said streams, sometimes not clearly visible, denote the boundaries; and by internal roads and TNB high-tension voltage cables, but the respective Land Offices assist each other in the enforcements.
Panel to check sand smuggling
Sira Habibu The Star 28 Jun 10;
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has set up a high-level integrity committee to check sand smuggling activity.
Home Ministry director-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam said the committee was set up based on a proposal submitted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“We are taking an integrated approach to resolve this issue,’’ he said.
Mahmood was responding to reports in The Star highlighting massive sand smuggling activities that had caused Malaysia to lose sand believed to be worth hundreds of millions of ringgit over the years.
MACC and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit are the secretariat for the committee, said Mahmood.
It is learnt that the committee was formed after the National Security Council raised security threat alert over rampant sand smuggling.
The committee is expected to look into regulatory aspects as part of the preventive measure to check smuggling.
Commenting on the issue, Senator Ezam Mohd Noor urged the MACC to take stern and immediate action against officers who had been abetting smuggling syndicates.
“Such massive movement of sand would not have occurred without corruption,” he said.
“MACC must investigate and take action against all corrupt individuals even if it involved high ranking officers and politicians,’’ he added.
Ezam said it was impossible for law enforcement officers not to see the movement of lorries and barges laden with sand.
In Johor Baru, Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said sand mining activities could be traced with 24-hour surveillance but the state did not have the manpower to cope.
The state, he said, was doing all it could including working with the marine police, Customs, Maritime Enforcement Agency, and the Land and Mines Department.
“We welcome any help or feedback from the people to curb this problem but at this point, we are doing all we can,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Abdul Ghani also said it was difficult for the state government to trace every exit point for illegal sand miners as there were many possible routes.
Abdul Ghani said the state was conducting stringent checks at the border to keep tabs on those who bring sand out but claim it was silica.
“Both silica and sand are very similar,” he said.
Chemists were also sent there to ascertain if the load was sand or silica, he added.
