KOTA BARU: Authorities managed to seize a total of 262 goats and cattle worth more than RM750,000 that were found smuggled into Kelantan within a month.
The successful operation was carried out by the General Operations Force (GOF) 7th Battalion during “Ops Wawasan” along the Kelantan-Thai border, between Dec 16 last year and yesterday.
Ten smugglers were also arrested during operations.
The livestock was brought in to the state using boats belonging to the smugglers.
GOF 7th Battalion commanding officer Superintendent Azhari Nusi said each boat can carry between 10 and 12 goats depending on the size of the boat.
“If the boat is bigger, smugglers can even place 15 or 18 goats on each boat.
“For cattle, each boat can carry between three or five for a trip. But either the smuggler will push the boat slowly across the Golok river, or force the cattle to swim if the waters are shallow,” he told NST.
Azhari said smugglers would normally take less than 10 minutes to bring the animals to the riverbanks on the Kelantan side.
He said the battalion also had identified three illegal jetties used for livestock smuggling - Pengkalan Haram Tanjung Baru, Pengkalan Haram Bembang dan Pengkalan Haram Pak Ali.
“The illegal jetties are located along the Golok river in Rantau Panjang to Kuala Jambu, Tumpat.”