S
suicidalpap
Guest
Friday June 24, 2011
Sand smuggling a security threat
IT was disappointing to read “Sandmen return” (The Star, June 22) on the hundreds of millions of ringgit of sand shipped off to Singapore. It is daylight robbery of our country’s resources.
Sand stealing has been one of the oldest unethical activities, and our lax attitude in enforcement over the years has resulted in losses to the Government of billions of ringgit in revenue.
The StarProbe team tracked this illegal activity from a place near a jetty in Kota Tinggi to Ulu Tiram about 20km away where the sand was loaded on to lorries after completion of the washing process.
Investigations by the team revealed that the sand was transported to Singapore by barges during the day and the sand mining was conducted at night to avoid detection by the authorities. There were also six areas where the sand was piled and prepared for loading on to the barges.Unloading the sand takes place at an island in Singapore called Pulau Punggol.
The stolen sand from Malaysia is used for the construction industry in Singapore.
This is no different from football match-fixing by bookies and syndicates. Sand smuggling is a threat to our national security.
The Star reported in June last year of rampant sand smuggling in Sungai Johor and that some of the culprits were caught and charged in court.
C. SATHASIVAM,
Seremban.
Sand smuggling a security threat
IT was disappointing to read “Sandmen return” (The Star, June 22) on the hundreds of millions of ringgit of sand shipped off to Singapore. It is daylight robbery of our country’s resources.
Sand stealing has been one of the oldest unethical activities, and our lax attitude in enforcement over the years has resulted in losses to the Government of billions of ringgit in revenue.
The StarProbe team tracked this illegal activity from a place near a jetty in Kota Tinggi to Ulu Tiram about 20km away where the sand was loaded on to lorries after completion of the washing process.
Investigations by the team revealed that the sand was transported to Singapore by barges during the day and the sand mining was conducted at night to avoid detection by the authorities. There were also six areas where the sand was piled and prepared for loading on to the barges.Unloading the sand takes place at an island in Singapore called Pulau Punggol.
The stolen sand from Malaysia is used for the construction industry in Singapore.
This is no different from football match-fixing by bookies and syndicates. Sand smuggling is a threat to our national security.
The Star reported in June last year of rampant sand smuggling in Sungai Johor and that some of the culprits were caught and charged in court.
C. SATHASIVAM,
Seremban.
