Stuart Michael The Star 24 Jun 11;
FOUR thieves were caught in the act of transporting 500 mangrove logs estimated at RM5,000 from Pulau Kelang, off Port Klang, during a raid on Wednesday.
The culprits, who are foreigners, will be detained for a week. They were caught loading mangrove logs into a boat in Pulau Kelang.
Besides detaining the culprits, the Selangor Forestry Department also seized two boats.
State Forestry Department assistant director (operations and enforcement) Mohd Yussainy Md Yusop said the thieves were on the island for three days to cut the mangrove trees.
“They then stored the mangrove logs by the edge of the bank on the island and waited for the boat — which could only be used during high tide — to load the mangrove logs.
The final destination was a few kilometres away where the lorries waited to cart them away to be sold,” he said.
He added that the week-long surveilance on the area by his men paid off as they were able to catch the culprits red-handed.
“The raid was conducted jointly with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) and they are now working hand-in-hand to apprehend the culprits cutting and stealing mangrove logs in an island off Pulau Ketam.
“When The Star earlier highlighted on the illegal logging of mangrove trees in the island near Pulau Ketam, it stopped for four months. Mangrove logs bring in lucrative profits and the operators are now back in action,’’ said Yussainy.
The thieves will be charged under the National Forestry Act 1984 and if found guilty would be fined up to RM50,000 each and jailed not more than five years or both.
Yussainy also added that it was also timely as forestry enforcement directors in all the states attended a two-day course at the Royal Yacht Club in Port Klang and joined the raid to see how it was conducted.
“Selangor will be used as a benchmark by forestry departments in other states to check on the stealing of mangrove logs,’’ he said.
Pahang Forestry Department assistant director (enforcement) Razali Abdu Raman said the partnership between APMM and Selangor Forestry made it easy to nab the culprits.
The raid was well coordinated with the use of water and air surveillance.
“As for Pahang Forestry Department, we have 30 personnel and will hold joint operations to catch thieves stealing timber.
“There are illegal small timber operators who love to steal valuable trees mainly Chengal, Balau and Giam from the forest. We can work with the locals to catch the culprits,’’ he said.
Perak Forestry Department assistant director (enforcement) Osman Deris said the state had more than 9,000ha of forest that included mangrove swamps but only had 10 workers.
“We need the help from authorities like APMM to help us in curbing the stealing of our natural resources like mangrove. We have a budget of RM550,000 and we carry out air surveillance throughout the state twice a week,’’ he said.
The StarMetro exposed this issue in the report “Mangrove Crooks” on Aug 30 last year, showing the modus operandi of thieves stealing mangrove logs in Selangor and how they avoided being detected by the authorities.
Yussainy said since the news report, his department had stepped up measures to catch the thieves.
“Between July last year and Jan 15 this year, nine people have been prosecuted for smuggling, while the department had seized more than 200,000 logs.”
He added that when the department checked with the Indonesian authorities on mangrove logs, they claimed that there was a ban (still in force) of mangrove logs leaving their country.
He added that the Selangor Forestry Department had stopped the issuance of licences to allow the harvesting of mangroves in July last year.
“However, the illegal activities are still rampant and we urge other states to stop issuing permits for operators to chop down mangrove trees,” Yussainy said.
