Photo shows the Sibu Court Complex. – Photo by Jane Moh
SIBU (Feb 21): Two men are facing a three-month prison sentence each after failing to pay a fine for illegally possessing logs.
A statement from the Sarawak Forest Department said the Sessions Court here yesterday fined Ricky Kamarau and Muhammad Iskandar Hakimi Abdullah, both from Sibu, RM35,000 each as well as ordered them to pay RM12,584.50 each to the Sarawak government.
Apart from that, Judge Marutin Pagan also ordered that the lorry used to transport the logs be confiscated as evidence and handed over for disposal by the Forest Department.
The men committed an offence under Section 96(1) of the Forests Ordinance 2015 (Cap. 71) for illegally possessing forest products, read together with Sections 79(2), 96(3), and 99 of the same Ordinance.
According to the facts of the case, the offence was committed on July 9, 2021 at approximately 12.20am in Pasai Siong, when the men were carrying a load of 44 logs using a lorry.
Sarawak Forest director Datu Hamden Mohammad stressed that this offence is serious as it involved the illegal possession and smuggling of forest products, therefore strict action must be taken.
Deputy public prosecutor Ronald Felix Hardin from the Sarawak State Attorney General’s Chamber prosecuted the case.
The proceedings were also attended by several officials from the Sarawak Forest Department.