Timber worth RM5.5mil seized in two-week Sarawak illegal logging blitz

KUCHING: The Sarawak Forestry Department has seized over 20,000 illegal logs worth RM5.5mil in Bintulu and Miri over the last two weeks.

Its director Sapuan Ahmad said 17,064 logs were seized from eight locations in Bintulu and another 5,242 from five locations in Miri for various offences, such as felling without licence, felling outside licensed area and non-payment of royalties.

He said two excavators were also seized for encroaching into the Similajau National Park during the raids under the Department's Ops Bintulu Miri.

"No arrests were made as the loggers ran away when our men came," he told a press conference at the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

His announcement came two days after Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem issued a warning to the timber industry to stamp out illegal logging and corruption.