9 held, RM3.75mil in assets and bauxite seized in raid on Felda plantation

PETALING JAYA: The General Operations Force arrested nine people and seized assets and bauxite worth an estimated RM3.75 million in a raid on an oil palm plantation at Felda Bukit Goh, Pahang, yesterday.

The GOF’s southeast brigade commander, Ahmad Radzi Hussain, said the nine suspects arrested in the 11.30am raid, including five foreigners, were believed to be involved in illegal bauxite mining activities.

“The five foreign nationals failed to produce valid work permits or identification documents. They have been handed over to Kuantan police for further action,” Bernama reported him as saying.

The raid involved the Kuantan GOF 7th Battalion’s intelligence branch, the Pahang state enforcement unit, and the Kuantan police’s criminal investigation division.

Radzi said the four Malaysians and the seized items were handed over to the state enforcement unit for further investigation.

The items included three dumper trucks, two excavators, two piles of soil believed to contain about 10,000 tonnes of bauxite, and six documents, with the total value estimated at RM3.75 million.

He said the unit also collected soil samples to be sent to the minerals and geoscience department for analysis, and ordered an immediate shutdown of the site.

According to preliminary findings, the site is owned by a Felda settler and had been leased to a company since March for land clearing and replanting.

The bauxite was believed to have been sent to a processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, before being sold to buyers.