41 orang asli arrested in operation at Gua Musang barricades

GUA MUSANG: An additional 23 orang asli have been arrested in Gua Musang where they had set up blockades to protest against logging activities in the Balah forest reserve.

Earlier Tuesday, lawyer and activist Siti Kasim said that at least 18 protesters had been arrested.

"41 orang asli have been arrested," said Siti Kasim on her Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

She added that mobile phones and cameras had also been confiscated and that the blockade was demolished and houses destroyed.

She urged the public to gather at the Gua Musang police station at 9pm to show their solidarity with the orang asli.

Siti Kasim said the orang asli would be taking legal action over the arrests.

Earlier in the day, police and Forestry Department officers moved into the area to dismantle the blockade set up by about 200 orang asli.

State forestry department deputy operations director Mohd Radhie Chu Abdullah confirmed later that 25 people were arrested for trespassing.

Abdullah said they were arrested under Sections 32, 47 and 81 of the National Forestry Enactment 1984 for trespassing on a permanent forest reserve.

"This action is long overdue and we cannot allow the barricades to be set up to stop timber from being brought out of the Balah forest reserve.

"We have been patient with the activists and today we removed the barricades without any incident," he said.

Police are reported to have seized several blowpipes and machetes and arrested 25 orang asli who had set up the barricades.

A 210-strong team of officers from the police, the state forestry department, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the district land office also brought down 35 makeshift bamboo tents at Simpang Petei, Pos Tohoi, and Kampung Peralong, Pos Bihai, in the operation by the authorities Tuesday.