ALOR STAR – Kedah Amanah chief Datuk Ismail Salleh has called for a thorough investigation into suspicious activities allegedly taking place at the Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve in Sik.
He said that residents near Bukit Enggang claimed seeing individuals believed to be foreigners entering and leaving the area, raising questions about whether the mining and exploration of rare earth elements were still taking place in the area.
“Therefore, a task force should be established to uncover various issues, including the alleged theft of rare earth elements in the land owned by Menteri Besar Kedah Inc (MBI Kedah) which until now has not been explained by the state government and Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
On April 13, a total of 40 individuals, including 35 foreigners, were charged at the sessions court here with trespassing into the Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve last January.
Last October, the media reported that the Kedah government had recouped losses caused by illegal mining of rare earth elements in Sik through the issuance of compounds to a Chinese national found responsible for the activity.
According to Sanusi, on October 11, the man paid a compound of RM500,000 for illegal mining and another RM130,000 for trespassing into the forest reserve.
He said the state government was advised that the case should be compounded rather than taken to court as the maximum compound would go into state government coffers.
However, Sanusi denied any involvement by MBI Kedah in any rare earth elements exploration and mining activities in the Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve.
Last January, MBI Kedah signed a memorandum of understanding with Jangka Bakat Minerals Sdn Bhd and China’s Xiamen Tungsten Co Ltd on the exploration, technical assistance, and mining of rare earth elements in the state. – Bernama, July 8, 2023
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