MALAYSIA: Perlis Stops Unique Forest Plants from Leaving State
Copyright 2001 BERNAMA (Malaysian National News Agency)
November 28, 2001
KANGAR, Nov 28, 2001 - The Perlis Forestry Department has stopped two lorries loaded with 186 forest plants from four species unique to the state from being taken to Kuala Lumpur illegally.
Four enforcement officers from the department led by Kamal Daud stopped the lorries at 2.30pm yesterday in front of the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) office here.
The plants could fetch a total of RM11,000 here and 10 times the amount in Kuala Lumpur, Perlis State Executive Councillor for Land, Forestry, Environment and Rural Development Mohd Hadzi Nordin told reporters here today. State Forestry Director Kasim Osman was also present at the news conference. He said 90 of the plants were from the kesinal species, 76 of deer horn species, 17 were pokok bogak or "cycas-clivi-cola" and three were from the pokok keladi or "aroid" species.
They were believed to have been removed from the Perlis Forest Reserve or from Kaki Bukit state land without permission, he said.
Mohd Hadzi said one of the bogak plants was more than three metres tall and believed to be more than 100 years-old.
The plants were kept for sometime at a sales and care centre in Jalan Kaki Bukit before being taken out of Perlis, he said.
He said the seizure was the first under Section 84 of the National Forestry Act 1987 and was made with a view to protecting local species from being removed indiscriminately and illegally which could lead to their extinction.
"The decorative plants are unique to Perlis and Langkawi and a source of interest to botanists and others," he said.
Two old men from Perak and Kuala Lumpur aged 51 and 54 respectively, who were the lorry drivers, had been detained for questioning.
He said if they were convicted of stealing the protected plants they could be fined more than RM50,000 or jailed for up to five years or both.
Mohd Hadzi said the Forestry Department would conduct spot checks at all plant care and sales centres to ensure no protected species were being offered for sale.