KUANTAN: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested three people including a Pahang government official in its crackdown on the illegal extraction of minerals in the state.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the minerals, which include bauxite, have been illegally extracted since 2022.
The three people - two company owners and an official - were arrested during an operation in Bukit Goh yesterday.
The official, who is attached to a state government agency, is believed to have accepted bribes to protect the illegal extraction of minerals.
Azam also said over RM26,000 in cash and three mobile phones were seized during the raid.
He said that, based on MACC's investigations, only minerals mined before 2022 were permitted to be extracted.
"However, we found that they (suspects) were also extracting minerals that were just mined," he said in a statement.
"Several lorry operators bribed the official as gratification for protection and for turning a blind eye to what they were doing," he said.
Azam said the MACC was still investigating the total amount of bribes paid to the official.
He said after the operation in Pahang, MACC raided a store in Jabor, Terengganu, where the minerals were kept.
"Four excavators, a shovel loader and seven lorries were handed over to the Terengganu Lands and Mines Department," he said, adding the vehicles were seized for unlawful occupation of land under Section 425 of the National Land Code.
Separately, eight tipper dumper lorries were seized under Section 82 of the Land Public Transport Agency Act for the determination of the relevant vehicle's weight.
The lorries, believed to be overloaded during an inspection in Gebeng, were handed over to the Road Transport Department.
The three suspects in their 30s to 50s, have been remanded until Nov 19.
The case is being investigated under Section 16 of the MACC Act for bribery.
In 2016, a moratorium was imposed on bauxite mining after complaints from Pahang residents about air pollution and dangers posed by lorries transporting the mineral.
Excessive bauxite mining had caused several areas around Kuantan to be enveloped in red dust and nicknamed "Planet Mars".
It also turned the rivers in Kuantan red.
The moratorium expired on March 31, 2019.
In 2020, Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said bauxite mining could resume so long as operators adhered to the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry's standard operating procedures.