Elan Perumal and Stuart Michael, The Star 24 Jun 10;
JOHOR BARU: Sand worth millions of ringgit is being illegally “floated” out of the country daily via Sungai Johor here. And this has been going on for the past three years.
A Starprobe team investigating this lucrative trade found that the sand ends up in Singapore, despite a ban on sand export imposed by the Malaysian Government.
Sand extraction is a common sight along the river as mining syndicates illegally transport millions of tonnes of sand, even on weekends and public holidays, via Danga Bay and Port of Tanjung Pelepas.
The culprits use barges to pass through the international waters from Kota Tinggi and Ulu Tiram before arriving at local ports for shipment to Singapore.
The probe revealed that the barges are directed towards a private jetty or landing point at Pulau Punggol Timur in Singapore where the sand is unloaded.
A Singaporean company, which obtains the sand from a Malaysian partner, supplies it to the Housing Development Board of Singapore to cater for construction projects in the island republic.
The Starprobe team’s visit to the landing point revealed that the sand from the barges was loaded onto trucks before being taken to the private storage area.
The Pulau Punggol Timur jetty is believed to be used to solely stock up sand.
The private jetty is filled with sand mounds, mostly from Malaysia, and some from neighbouring countries.
To circumvent the Malaysian ban on sand export, the syndicates are believed to be exporting this highly sought-after material as processed or “packed” silica sand, an item that can be exported.
By obtaining sand from its Malaysian partner, the Singaporean company is making huge profits as it only pays S$30 per cubic metre compared with S$40 for the same amount of sand from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is estimated that since August 2007, more than three million cubic metres of sand has been smuggled out through Sungai Johor.
Starprobe’s findings also revealed that more than 90% of the sand was extracted from Sungai Johor while the rest was from sand mines from the Kota Tinggi and Johor Baru districts.
Further investigation revealed that the illegal business started after a contract worth RM62.4 mil was awarded by the Malaysian Drainage and Irrigation Department to a private company to carry out redesigning and rectification works of Sungai Johor.
This involved deepening and widening a 12km stretch of the river mouth from Kota Tinggi towards Singapore.
Checks revealed that since the project also involved sand extraction from the river, a total of three million cubic metres of sand had been mined from the river.
Based on the calculation that the sand is being sold at S$30 per cubic metre, the syndicates could have raked in RM207mil over the two-year period of the project.
After the project’s completion, the syndicates continued to extract sand from the river, purportedly for local use but instead “exported” it to Singapore.
It is also learnt that an average of three sand-laden barges are transported out of Sungai Johor daily. A total of 326 barges of sand are believed to have been smuggled into Singapore over the past four months.
The syndicates have made an estimated RM44.9mil from the sale of 652,000 cubic metres of sand over the four months, which means they have pocketed a total of RM251.9mil from the illegal sale of sand to Singapore over the past three years.
The Government has also sustained heavy losses due to the fact that the sand is freely smuggled out.
The Government should have collected not less than RM37.5mil in taxes from the transaction based on RM12.50 for exporting per cubic metre of silica sand.
A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission source confirmed that it had received a tip-off on the involvement of government officials related to the sand stealing activity.
The source also revealed that the commission had tipped off the relevant government authorities on its findings.
On Feb 9, The Star reported that several government officials were charged with accepting bribes for allowing the smuggling of sand into Singapore.
Sand mining unchecked
The Star 24 Jun 10;
PETALING JAYA: Sand extraction activities and movement of barges have been a common sight in Sungai Johor for the past three years.
The rampant sand stealing is something that most villagers in Kota Tinggi and Ulu Tiram, especially those living along the river bank, are aware of.
The activity takes place on land that stretches more than 10km along Jalan Kota Tinggi leading to Ulu Tiram.
A Starprobe team check revealed that barges were parked along the river at Kampung Ayer Puteh, 15km off the main road.
At the time of our visit, a tugboat was seen anchored at the jetty, near a signboard which indicated that sand extracting was going on in the river.
From a distance of 2km, we spotted several barges laden with sand along the river bank.
The team came face to face with five barges parked along the river bank during a 20-minute ride on a hired boat from the jetty.
It was then that we noticed the busy movement of excavators and cranes on the barges. The barges were fully loaded with sand.
We saw tugboats next to the barges. The boats are used to tow the barges to their destination.
The presence of our boat caught the attention of the tugboats’ crew who spotted us taking photographs.
The crew reacted by honking at our boat and shouting at us.
For a while, we thought that we were in hot water.
However, our boatman told us that he knew the crew and got us out of trouble by giving them a friendly wave.
“Don’t worry. They are all my friends,” said the boatman who thought we were sand contractors trying to bid for sand extracting projects.
On our way back to the jetty, we also spotted a few machines carrying out dredging work in the middle of the river.
We also visited a sand mining area at Bukit Wahab in Kota Tinggi, about 1.5km from the main road.
A signboard at the entrance to the site stated that sand mining activity was ongoing inside.
The site was busy with the movement of excavators and trucks.
Our vehicle was stopped by a motorcyclist who told us to leave, saying that it was private land.
The probe team spotted a jetty near the site which is located at the riverside.
It was discovered that the jetty was being used to load sand onto the barges for transportation down the river.
Easy to get approval from district offices to move sand
The Star 24 Jun 10;
PETALING JAYA: By merely producing a purchasing order, the syndicates are able to obtain approval from the relevant district offices to transport sand out of Kota Tinggi or Johor Baru.
However, nobody is allowed to export sand out of the country.
For example, they will declare that 2,000 cubic metres of sand will be transported from Kota Tinggi or Ulu Tiram to Danga Bay, Port of Tanjung Pelepas or Pasir Gudang.
To give the permit, the respective district land office will charge RM1 per cubic metre of sand, amounting to about RM2,000 per barge.
The syndicates are required to submit the Customs’ Borang K3 which is the permit application form.
The same procedure applies to exporting silica sand, except that the exporter will be required to pay RM12.50 per cubic metre of sand which can go up to about RM25,000 per shipment.
Upon obtaining the K3 permits, they will have to go through the Customs checkpoint near Pulau Tekong.
Borang 4C is then used to get clearance, which appears to be more of a formality in view of the fact that the barge is leaving Malaysian waters.
In Singaporean waters, the barge will go through the republic’s immigration checkpoint at Pulau Tekong with clearance for the sand being obtained from its Customs Department.
