A marine police personnel is seen pointing to the heavy machinery at the illegal logging site.
LUNDU: A raid by the Marine police on an illegal logging site in Sematan yesterday netted five units of heavy machinery and logs worth about RM1 million.
State marine police chief ACP Kalai Chelvan Nadarajan said the raid took place around 10am at Sungai Tian Sebat following information received from local villagers, who themselves led police to the illegal logging site together with Sematan assistant district officer.
“The team arrived at the site and found four local men as well as five foreigners comprising two adult males, a woman and two young children.
“The foreigners were detained under the Immigration Act pending further action as they did not possess any personal identification or valid work permits while the locals were held for further investigation,” he said.
Kalai Chelvan went on to disclose that an inspection of the site uncovered a total of 120 illegally-felled logs worth about RM66,000 as well as five heavy machines valued at RM950,000, all of which were handed over to the Forest Department for further investigation.
He also expressed his gratitude to the villagers whose information led to the successful raid, and hoped for more of such cooperation from the public in the future.