L AWAS : Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), in collaboration with the police embarked on a special enforcement operation against illegal logging here from Oct 19. A special team was put together comprising officers from other SFC regional offices besides those from Miri Regional Office. Police personnel were drawn from IPD Lawas.
According to a SFC statement, members of the joint team have, to date, conducted five raids, including one on a sawmill, two at Bukit Ugui, one inside Lawas Water Catchment area and one in Trusan. Of the five raids, three had been ‘productive’.
So far, one suspect was netted, together with two tractors and 496 pieces of illegal logs, some of which were found buried to avoid detection. The logs extracted are believed to have been illegally extracted from both state land forest and expired timber-licenced areas.
A SFC spokesperson explained that the special enforcement operation in Lawas had been coordinated by SFC Corporate Office (HQ) in Kuching and had involved the use of drones and equipment drawn from other regions in the state.
The operation itself had been prompted by several complaints and tip-offs received from the public over the past weeks. All cases had been reported to IPD Lawas and handed over to Forest Department for further investigation and disposal.
