Photo shows the sawn timber seized by SFC.
KUCHING: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) Sibu Regional Office enforcement teams seized illegally felled timber and protected wildlife at separate locations on Wednesday.
The seizures were thanks to tip-offs.
Illegal logging was discovered at Mile 12, Oya Road near the PGA Shooting Range.
“As the illegal logging was detected early in its tracks, only 11 pieces of rough sawn timber and six Acacia logs were found at the crime scene,” said a press statement from SFC.
As for the wildlife trade case, enforcement officers confiscated four soft-shelled turtles and six Malayan Box Turtles from a man offering them for sale at a location near the RHB Bank on Jalan Tunku Osman, Sibu.
Both species are protected under the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998 and any contrivance as regards to these species is liable to a fine of RM10,000 and one year in prison.
Incidentally the man had been cited for a similar offence last year. Both cases have been reported to the police and subsequently handed over to the Forests Department for further action.