Bukit Aman's Wildlife Crime Bureau expansion gets full WWF-Malaysia support

KOTA KINABALU: Environmental watchdog WWF-Malaysia has lauded Bukit Aman's plans to expand the scope of its Wildlife Crime Bureau (WCB).

"An expanded scope for the WCB will no doubt help in the overall protection of the environment and especially its wildlife in Malaysia," said WWF-Malaysia conservation director Dr Henry Chan.

"This will ensure the survival of the nation's iconic species including the Malayan tiger, the Sunda pangolin and the Asian elephant.

"We support the WCB's intent on expansion. More boots on the ground and more intelligence gathering is always a welcome addition to safeguard our natural resources from the threat of illegal activities," he added.

Additionally, Chan said, the collaboration between the bureau and environmental agencies through joint operations such as the Ops Khazanah is exemplary and must be maintained.

"Previously, wildlife and environment crimes came under the purview of relevant departments only.

"The establishment of the WCB last year not only streamlined the management of these crimes but also allowed for an increase in the police's capacity for enforcement as well as access to the intelligence network, international collaboration and investigation expertise.

"Unfortunately, crimes against the environment and the ecosystem have far reaching impacts. Illegal activities in the forest reserves and the seas can cause substantial harm to humans," Chan said.

The Star recently highlighted WCB's planned expansion which included the increase of its personnel from 50 to 75 individuals to protect national treasures and heritage sites as well.

Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Comm Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali had said he hoped the expansion would occur within the year.

Chan said WCB's recent exercises that culminated in the discovery of the illegal gold mining operation in Sabah and illegal logging activities in other states were encouraging.

This, he said, positively showed that a centralised system such as the WCB can be effective in tackling not just wildlife crime but crimes against the environment as a whole.

"Malaysia is a mega biodiverse country. This means that effectively safeguarding its treasures is a tremendous task requiring considerable resources.

"Additionally, enhanced cross departmental cooperation would contribute to the increased effectiveness of WCB's operations.

"As environmental crimes become more sophisticated, it is now pertinent that the bureau looks into inter-agency cooperation with other departments including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) using, for instance, the Anti-Money Laundering Act to successfully tackle these crimes," Chan said.