SFC cripples illegal logging operation at Ulu Sg Kelawit

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Some of the logs and a heavy machinery seized at the site.

KUCHING: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) recently crippled an illegal logging operation at Ulu Sungai Kelawit near Tatau in Bintulu.

SFC’s Bintulu Regional Office enforcement team, with the assistance of the One-Stop Compliance Centre (OSCC) Teluk Batu, Tatau raided the site and discovered 10 piles of logs following a tip-off concerning suspicious logging activities at the location.

“We have so far detained more than 3,500 logs of various species and sizes as well as 14 machines comprising two tractors, 10 excavators, a shovel and a dump truck,” an SFC spokesperson said in a statement yesterday.

Statements from two persons of interest were also taken at the scene, he added.

The spokesperson pointed out that the location raided by the team was within a timber licence area.

“However, we have established that this logging operation has not been sanctioned by either the Sarawak Forest Department (SFD) or SFC and is therefore illegal,” he said.

The number of logs seized in the raid is believed to be the biggest so far this year and it was learnt that the illegal logging operation had gone undetected for some time.

A report on the raid has been lodged at the Tatau police station.

The case has been handed over to SFD for further investigation and disposal.