GUA MUSANG: The General Operations Force (GOF) has seized equipment worth RM1.135mil believed to have been used for illegal gold mining and arrested four men, including a Chinese national, in a raid at the Kuala Betis Resettlement Scheme (RPS) here.
South-East Brigade commander Senior Asst Comm Ahmad Radzi Hussain said the raid, conducted at about 4pm on Saturday (Aug 22), was carried out by the brigade's intelligence team under Ops Gali Mega (Eastern Zone).
He said checks at the site uncovered two excavators, sluice boxes, suction machines, generator sets, 51 pieces of grass carpet in various sizes and three rolls of grass carpet, all believed to have been used in the gold mining operation.
"One of the suspects produced a copy of an application for a permit to extract sand from Sungai Nenggiri, Mukim Kuala Betis, dated Jan 31, 2024.
"Preliminary checks found that the permit was believed to have been misused to carry out gold mining activities," he said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 23).
SAC Ahmad Radzi said no minerals or raw gold were found at the site, and the case is being investigated under Section 158 of the Enactment of Minerals (Kelantan) 2001.
He said all the seized equipment was handed over to the Kelantan Land and Mines Office for further action. – Bernama
