Native villagers of Long Pilah settlement in the middle Baram region of interior northern Sarawak have uncovered a huge amount of massive logs harvested from forests over which they have Native Customary Land Rights.
The villagers claimed that they uncovered hundreds of these felled trees from illegal logging at a log pond near their settlement on Sunday.
They have set up a blockade to chase out timber workers, and a police report was lodged at the Long Lama police station, which is the nearest town to Long Pilah.
The villagers led by Ajang Jok, who is chairman of the Long Pilah Peoples Action Committee, have also lodged a complaint to the Sarawak Forestry.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) ground coordinator for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, toldThe Star on Friday that the villagers had informed SAM about the case.
The pictures in this case tell their own story.
Piles of neatly felled and shorn trees – all torn down in a blink of an eye.
Only a major industrial operation could have achieved this raid, with solid financial backing supporting it.
So, who in Sarawak has such resources in terms of machinery, staff, finance and know how to conduct such a massive illegal timber snatch?
Local gangs of minor crooks or the existing top six major logging companies who control all the “legal” timber concessions in the state, but who have long since stripped bare their allocated areas because of greedy and unsustainable practices?
If Adenan wants to clean up logging in Sarawak he should banish these brigands from the state.