KOTA KINABALU – A special bureau to fight crimes involving wildlife will be established under the national police force, following the success of an operation codenamed Op Bersatu Khazanah to accord protection towards nature and its various species.
Op Bersepadu Khazanah, now in its eleventh edition, involves cooperation among police, the Customs Department, and the Wildlife and National Parks Department of Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan). Police took the lead in this year’s operations.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the bureau will be known as the Wildlife Crime Bureau.
It has 50 new vacancies for officers to combat illegal hunting and wildlife trade.
“With the formation of this bureau, greater impact will be made in the effort to curb crimes involving wildlife, like illegal hunting and trading involving protected species.
“The Wildlife Crime Bureau is a unit that will be headquartered in Bukit Aman under the supervision of the Internal Security and Public Order Department.
“This will allow all wildlife probes to be done in an orderly fashion at Bukit Aman’s level and no cases will be left uninvestigated.
“The creation of the positions and filling up the vacancies will be made as soon as possible,” he said during the press conference on Op Bersatu Khazanah here today.
Also present were Perhilitan director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim and Customs director-general Datuk Zazuli Johan.
In a related development, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of Op Bersatu Khazanah have been finalised, said Acryl Sani.
This is in light of the different enforcement SOPs now observed in the peninsula, and in Sabah and Sarawak.
Sabah and Sarawak also have their own wildlife ordinances with enforcement carried out by the state wildlife departments.
“There are now three SOPs because of three different sets of laws, but the way procedures are carried out will be more or less similar,” said Acryl Sani, adding that the SOPs will come into force with immediate effect.
On another note, Kadir said 115 new posts have been created in the Wildlife Crime Unit under Perhilitan.
Authorities detained 97 people in 60 cases, with the value of items confiscated from the raids under Op Bersatu Khazanah from January until July 31 coming to RM3.831 million.
This marks a 100% increase in the number of cases, 234% in the number of arrests, and 612% in the number of items seized during raids over the same period of last year. – The Vibes, August 4, 2022
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