(MY) forester & seven held over illegal logging

[Guest guest]

Forester, seven others held over illegal logging - The New Straits Times

By Jason Gerald jasong

 

TEMERLOH, May 21. — Police today obtained a 10-day remand order for eight

men, including a district Forestry Department forester and a former Forestry

Department employee, to facilitate investigations into illegal logging

operations at a forest reserve near here.

 

The men, aged between 24 and 53, will be on remand until May 30, pending

police investigations into the suspected activity of a syndicated illegal

logging operation.

 

They are Abdul Mutalib Mohamad, 53, (forester); Mohd Iskandar Ab Malik, 39,

(former Temerloh Forestry Department employee); Tan Chin Chai, 30, (timber

grader); Sin Lioon Fatt, 33, (agent); Khoo Nyok Lin, 38, (agent); and

workers Isip Ayau, 24, Deris a/l Ini, 30, and Abu Kassim Kemat, 45.

 

Yesterday, 21 lorry drivers transporting 147 tonnes of logs suspected of

being felled illegally at the Kemasul Forest Reserve, were detained at a

roadblock near Mentakab. They were later released on a police bail of

RM2,000 each after questioning.

 

Also detained were six men, believed to be part of a group involved in the

illegal logging.

 

The remand order was obtained from magistrate Aedi Tajudin at the court here

by senior police investigation officer Assistant Superintendent P.R.

Gunarajan, who is also the district Criminal Investigation Department chief.

 

In applying for the remand, Gunarajan told the court that the eight men were

suspected of being involved in the illegal extraction of logs worth

RM200,000 from the Kemasul Forest Reserve, located some three kilometres

from here.

 

He said the logs carried a market valued of about RM1 million.

 

Gunarajan told reporters later that six of the eight men remanded comprised

three workers at the logging area, two agents and one timber grader.

 

He added that police were still investigating the case under section 15(1)

of the National Forestry Act 1984 (amended) and did not deny that there

would be more arrests made.

 

Those convicted face a mandatory jail term of not less than one year and a

maximum fine of RM500,000.

 

 

_______________

Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com