KOTA KINABALU: Illegal gold mining activities have been going on undetected for about three decades in Sabah, authorities recently discovered.
What they thought was an isolated case has turned out to be more serious with several underground tunnels found near Sg Bole at the Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve in Lahad Datu.
Sabah General Operations Force (GOF) brigade deputy commander and Ops Bersepadu Khazanah (OBK) field commanding officer Toipi Lamat said these tunnels were first discovered in August.
Apart from that, he said six gold mining areas, involving an 8km stretch near Sg Bole, were also found following public tip-offs.
He said this during a press conference after a briefing with Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Datuk Hazani Ghazali at the Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok, Sandakan on Friday (Oct 15).
Toipi said in the 8km stretch alone, a total of 103 holes, measuring about 10m to 17m deep, believed to be used as entry and exit points to these underground tunnels, were found.
He said these holes were also used to store gold.
However, no suspects have been arrested so far since the integrated operation started in August.
The operation was conducted with the GOF, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Parks and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
During the raids, a "residential" area comprising 14 huts, was discovered. Surrounding the huts were mature fruit and vegetable farms, suggesting that these miners had been there for a long time, Toipi said.
He said they found clothes, food, 50kg of rice, weapons as well as a basketball court in the area, thus strengthening their belief that these activities could have been going on since the 1990s.
"From an on-site investigation, we believe that the suspects are divided into three groups with different roles – prospecting for gold, transporting it, and panning at the river,” Toipi said.
Further probes led to them uncovering some unreported deaths – two miners trapped in a collapsed tunnel, one died in a fight, and one died of malaria, he said.
Meanwhile, Hazani said they believe a criminal syndicate was involved in the illegal mining activities.
He said the authorities were supposed to have halted the integrated operation looking into illegal mining but had decided to continue in light of the new discoveries.
Hazani added that the OBK integrated operation here would be used as a model in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak.
Since it was launched on Aug 13, the OBK had solved 66 cases, involving a total of 73 arrests and RM3.2mil in various seized goods.
Hazani said the RM3.2mil did not reflect the actual value the country had lost as the crimes were detrimental to forest ecology.
“I will propose for drastic action to be taken including under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (2012) and Prevention of Crime Act (1959) as well as Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (2001).
"I will also suggest to the government to widen the scope of the Wildlife Crime Bureau – approved in June – to the National Treasure Crime Bureau (Biro Jenayah Khazanah Negara) so it covers illegal logging, mining, hunting and the exploitation of flora and fauna," he said.
Sabah chief conservator of forests Datuk Frederick Kugan said the state Forestry Department had been sending enforcement teams to the Malua Forest Reserve, but did not have the expertise in identifying minerals or gold.
He said they needed another law relating to minerals to stop these activities as it was not under the Forestry Department portfolio to handle gold mining matters.
"We may need assistance from the Minerals and Geosciences Department," he said.
The area was initially gazetted as Class II Commercial Forest Reserve in the 1990s until it was reclassified as Class I Protection Forest Reserve in 2012 due to the orangutan population.
However, due to the discovery of these illegal gold mining activities, the many entry points must now be demolished, he said.