KUCHING: Licensed loggers will be charged if they harvest timber ouside the boundaries of their concessions.
Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said licensees who logged the forest outside their own areas had breached the terms and conditions in their licence .
“If caught, they will also be prosecuted just like unlicensed loggers or individuals who extract timber from state land illegally. They are all categorised under illegal logging and can be charged for the offence,” he said.
Without disclosing any figures, Awang Tengah earlier said, generally, there had been cases of illegal logging detected in the state, including those that involved licensed timber companies, unlicensed loggers and individuals who encroached into state land they claimed to be native customary rights
(NCR) land on the pretext of clearing the land for plantation purposes.
“We know there are certain cases like this. Upon detection the relevant authorities will take necessary action. We don’t condone such activities because they are robbing the state of its revenues,” he said to reporters after closing his ministry’s Strategic Planning Workshop 2014 at Borneo Highlands Resort near here yesterday.
The workshop, themed ‘Spearheading Sustainable Natural Resources and Urban Environment’, which was held from Oct 20 to 22, was attended by officers from the ministry and agencies under its wing.