Cops Seize Crude Palm Oil, Fighting Cocks Worth Over RM3.9 Mln In Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (Bernama) -- The Wildlife Crime Bureau / Special Intelligence Investigation (WCB/PSK) Division of the Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department (JKDNKA) seized various illegal items worth RM3.9 million in two integrated operations in Lahad Datu and Tawau, Sabah, on Thursday and Friday.

JKDNKA director Datuk Seri Azmi Abu Kassim said that in the first operation in Lahad Datu at 7 pm, carried out with enforcement officers from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), they raided a store at a palm oil plantation and arrested four men aged between 20 and 31.

"We seized a lorry head with a tanker containing 30,000 litres of crude palm oil, a van, three motorised oil pumps with hoses and tanks, as well as drums filled with crude palm oil.

"The total amount of crude palm oil seized is estimated to weigh 30,148 tonnes, with a market value of RM152,090, and the overall value of the seizure in this operation is estimated at RM645,890,” he said in a statement today.

Azmi said the case is being investigated under Regulation 5(1)(b) of the MPOB (Licensing) Regulations 2005, adding that police also issued five summonses (POL 257) for vehicle-related offences such as expired road tax, no insurance coverage and driving without a licence.

Meanwhile, in the second operation in Tawau at 2.30 pm on Friday, police seized 622 fighting cocks and arrested three men, including two foreign men from Indonesia and the Philippines, all aged around their 50s.

“At the first location in Kampung Apas Parit, two Indonesian men and two Filipino men were arrested, and police seized 470 fighting cocks believed to be from the Philippines, 40 rooster spur knives, 180 units of vitamins and 500 chicken cages.

“At the second location in Kampung Membalua Off Jalan Apas, a 57-year-old man was detained along with 152 fighting cocks, with the total estimated value of the seizures at both locations being RM3,287,708,” he said.

He added that all those arrested are being investigated under Section 15(1) of the Animal Welfare Enactment 2015, Sections 55B, 39B & 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 6 of the Dangerous Weapons Act 1958.

-- BERNAMA