PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Putrajaya Land and Mines Office today conducted an integrated operation to raid illegal sand mining operations here.
The raids were conducted following tip-offs from the public on several illegal sand mining activities near the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, said MACC in a statement.
It is understood that the mining operators had allegedly bribed the authorities to cover up their activities.
In the operations, two individuals aged between 30 and 50 years-old had attempted to bribe the MACC officers with RM2,500 to avoid from enforcement action being taken against them.
They were arrested by MACC and are being investigated under section 17 (b) of MACC Act 2009 for giving bribes to civil servants.
The Land and Mines Office also seized four excavators which were used to dig sand on the 21ha land.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the illegal activities had been operating since 2013 and were protected by gangsters who were paid to threaten enforcement officers.