Kuching GOF Battalion 11 commander Supt Soh Hock Sing gestures towards one of the excavators that was used to steal the clay.
KUCHING: A joint operation between law enforcement and government agencies led to the arrest of 10 persons for stealing clay from a 50-acre piece of government land along Kuching-Serian Road on Tuesday.
State General Operations Force (GOF) commander Dato Isa Munir said the raid, involving the GOF, Padawan police, Land and Survey Department and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), took place around 3.20pm and brought an end to the week-long illegal operation.
“The secluded area is about 15 kilometres from the main road at Mile 24 Kuching-Serian Road.
“The suspects, locals aged 20 to 46, were caught in the midst of loading clay into three lorries using six excavators,” he said when contacted yesterday.
According to Isa, initial investigation revealed that the suspects, who failed to produce any form of documents pertaining to their operation, had been stealing the clay for the past week with the intent of exporting the soil to India.
“This is the first time we have come across such a case and we have already handed the case over to the Land and Survey Department for further investigation under the Minerals Ordinance 2004,” he added.
The raid, carried out by ASP Mohd Mazlan Mohd Ariff, also resulted in the seizure of the lorries and excavators which are worth an estimated RM4 million.