KUCHING: Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) succeeded in foiling the modus operandi of illegal loggers last year when it seized timber logs worth RM2,539,451.
Regional Enforcement head First Admiral Ismaili Bujang Pit said MMEA together with Sarawak Forest Department carried out 19 operations in the year during which they made 11 arrests.
“The arrests were done at Kuala Rejang, Sebuyau and Rambungan during the operations to check vessels loaded with logs,” he said at the press conference before the First Series of MMEA Target Shooting Practice at the Semmengo Camp near here the other day.
He said the illegal logs were tagged with legitimate marks to deceive the enforcement team.
Earlier, he gave statistics on the arrests done by MMEA for various offences committed along the waters of Sarawak.
He said three arrests were made under the Fisheries Act 1985, three for offences against the Customs Act, 10 for offences against the Merchant Shipping Ordinance, seven under the Penal Code (murder) and three under the Criminal Procedure Code.
MMEA Sarawak Region Lieutenant Commander Simon Templer Lo Tusa and MMEA director of Administration Sarawak Region Abang Noraffian Abang Ibrahim were also at the press conference.
