No sand smuggling in Johor: Menteri Besar

New Straits Times 6 Jul 11;

SAND smuggling is not likely to have taken place in Johor as those intending to do so would have to bribe a large number of officers from various departments, Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said yesterday.

He said stringent checks being carried out at the Sultan Iskandar Customs Complex in Johor Baru and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex in Tanjung Kupang as well as private jetties made it even harder to smuggle sand.

"Everything that is being exported is monitored by the export control unit of the Johor Land and Mines Department," he said at the assembly yesterday.

Ghani, who was responding to a question on the matter by Datuk Md Othman Yusof (BN-Kukup), said the state government had also formed an integrated enforcement committee made up of officials from the Customs Department, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Marine Police and Marine Department to monitor the export of brick products to Singapore to make it even harder for anyone to smuggle sand to the republic.

"Singapore also has its own enforcement unit to prevent such illegal sand smuggling activities."

He added that the state government was constantly reviewing its royalty collection method to improve revenue derived from the export of silica sand and brick products.

"The government is now preparing an inventory for the implementation of a high-technology system, which includes closed-circuit television and weigh bridges system.

"However, a weigh bridges system would require vast space which needs to be in close proximity to a Customs complex."

Ghani said the state government had the cooperation of the Customs Department, which is using its weight bridge at the Sultan Iskandar Customs Complex, to monitor all exports.

No smuggling of sand to Singapore: Johor Menteri Besar
Straits Times 7 Jul 11;

JOHOR BARU: Johor Menteri Besar Ghani Othman has denied Malaysian media reports that sand worth millions was being smuggled from the state to Singapore.

'The authorities in both countries are stringent with their checks and, to my knowledge, no such activity is happening here,' he told the Johor State Assembly on Tuesday.

Malaysia's The Star newspaper had reported late last month that smugglers were flouting a national ban on the export of sand to ship the commodity across the border via Sungai Johor.

Countering the report, Mr Ghani said smuggling is unlikely to have taken place as those intending to do so would have to bribe a large number of officers from various departments.

Stringent checks being carried out at the Sultan Iskandar Customs Complex in Johor Baru and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex in Tanjung Kupang as well as private jetties made it harder to smuggle sand, he added, responding to an assemblyman's question on the matter.

'Everything that is being exported is monitored by the export control unit of the Johor Land and Mines Department,' he said.

The state government had also formed a special task force, made up of officials from the Customs Department, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, the Marine Police and the Marine Department, to monitor sand smuggling.

'Singapore also has its own enforcement unit to prevent such illegal sand smuggling activities,' he added.

He also said the state government was continually reviewing its royalty collection methods to improve revenue derived from the export of sand and brick products.

Towards this, the state was planning to build a weigh bridge and install closed-circuit television cameras to keep track of vehicles carrying goods out of the country, Mr Ghani said.

NEW STRAITS TIMES, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK