Elan Perumal, The Star 27 Jun 10;
PETALING JAYA: The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) had not been visited by sand barges since 2003 although the sand smuggling syndicate had claimed that the sand from Sungai Johor was being sent to the port.
PTP property, free zone and corporate communications senior manager Derick Basir confirmed that it has been more than seven years since sand barges entered the port.
A Starprobe report showed that the syndicate had been making false declarations at the district land office that the sand was being transported to PTP and Danga Bay when it was actually being smuggled into Singapore.
Derick said the port practised strict monitoring on vessels movement and thus it was impossible for it to be used as a venue to smuggle sand into Singapore.
However, he was unaware that the syndicates were making false declarations.
“We do not know about the declaration they make since we only control vessels that come and go out of our port,’’ he said
Derick said PTP was a predominantly a container port and 99% of the vessels going in and out of the port were container vessels.
“We can confirm that there have been no movements of sand in and out of the port in a very long time. The last time sand was delivered to PTP was on Dec 24, 2003 for our reclamation works under phase 2 of the port development master plan,’’ he said.
Starprobe reported on Thursday that sand worth millions of ringgit were being floated away from Sungai Johor by syndicates who claimed that the sand-laden barges were being sent to PTP and Danga Bays.
It reported that the syndicate, after making the false declaration, smuggled the sand into Singapore via the international waters.
Starprobe revealed that the syndicate had capitalised on the need for the barges to pass international waters en route to PTP or Danga Bay.
It reported that the sand barges are directed to Singapore and not to the local ports as declared in their Borang K3 at the district land office.
