RAUB: Thousands of trees over an area measuring 202.34 hectares were cleared when the authorities carried out the Op Sekat 3.0 crackdown on the illegal durian farms on state-controlled land here last month.
Pahang Enforcement Unit (UPNP) elite team head, Saifullah Muhammad Ali, said most of the illegal farmers were not present at their plantations while only their workers, mostly foreigners, occupied the huts at the farms.
“UPNP proposes that all the huts be destroyed and all farming equipment in government land and forest reserves to be seized, especially in areas where no decisions have been made yet.
“Majority of the illegal farmers never paid taxes because they do not have legal land ownership.
“They have reaped profits from illegally grown durians for a long time so we suggest the Inland Revenue Board to conduct detailed investigations on all the farmers,” he said when briefing the Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah here today.
The briefing today was on the recent Op Sekat 3.0 enforcement operation against illegal durian farmers at Batu 3 Jalan Sungai Ruan-Sungai Klau here today.
Also present was the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, Pahang State Secretary Datuk Nazri Abu Bakar and Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman.
Meanwhile, Saifullah said that due to the vast size of the encroached land, they have proposed to use real-time satellite imaging services to conduct monitoring.
“The illegal farms are too huge to be physically patrolled so we propose real-time satellite imaging services through subscriptions,” he said.
The Op Sekat special operation led by UPNP aimed at combating illegal land encroachment activities in Raub ended on May 3.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
