‘Illegal occupants’ removed from Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, says report

MIRI (March 13): Widespread encroachment by illegal occupants have been detected within the Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary of Sarawak, reported The Star today.

State forest enforcement agencies have therefore carried out operations these illegal occupants who have cleared “part of the sanctuary near the Pan Borneo Highway to plant commercial trees and crops”.

Sarawak Forest Department source told the English daily that the operations called “Ops Samunsam” “started on March 6 and will go on until end of this month”.

“We have also uncovered thousands of commercial trees they had planted and we have uprooted them.

“There were some illegal occupants who tried to stop us but our enforcement units continued with the demolition tasks.

“We brought along the police and personnel from other relevant agencies with us.

“Initial probe showed that the encroachment of Samunsam sanctuary happened because of the ongoing construction of the Pan Borneo Highway along the route to Telok Melano,” the source told The Star.