BENTONG: Another illegal Musang King durian farm has been discovered here on Thursday (Dec 19), less than a month after 404 hectares of state-owned land in Sungai Perdak near here were found planted with the crop.
In the latest incident, about 5.8ha at the Kelau forest reserve was found to have been planted with 500 Musang King durian trees following a joint operation involving the Bentong district forest office, Pahang State Enforcement Unit and Bentong land and district office.
Pahang Forestry Department director Zainuddin Jamaludin said the culprits had also encroached on 0.19ha of state-owned land in the vicinity.
"We believe the suspects fled the plantation before we arrived at the site.
"We found two premises in the forest reserve which were used as workers' quarters and a store.
"Our enforcement team seized an excavator, a generator, water pump, grass cutter and several tools at the site which we believe to have been used for the unlicensed farming activities.
"All the seized items were taken to the department's store at Kemasul in Mentakab for further investigations," he said when contacted.
Zainuddin said warning signs had been installed against such illegal activities in the forest reserve.
"We will conduct continuous monitoring.
"An operation will be held soon to demolish the durian trees and tear down the two buildings at the site to ensure that the encroachment activities will not continue," he added.
Land clearing in permanent forest reserves was an offence under Section 32(1) of the National Forestry Act 1984.
On Nov 29, aerial surveillance led to the discovery of an illegal durian farm in the interior of Sungai Perdak near Karak, Bentong.