11 July 2014,Butterworth, Malaysia : Thirteen Vietnamese have been arrested for illegally possessing 5kg of agarwood.
The Penang Forestry Department caught them during a raid on a house in Simpang Ampat in south Seberang Prai in an hour-long operation which ended at 1am yesterday.
Department director Rosli Jamaluddin said the raiding party found 5kg of agarwood and equipment believed to have been used to chop the wood in the house.
Remand order: The 13 Vietnamese being taken to the magistrate’s court in Nibong Tebal.
He said the suspects, aged between 20 and 45, comprised six women and seven men.
He said the raid was conducted following a tip-off.
The suspects were later brought to the magistrate’s court here where a remand order was obtained to detain them for four days.
The case is being investigated under Section 68 of the National Forestry Act 1984 (amended 1993), which carries a maximum RM50,000 fine, a jail term of up to five years or both.
Gaharu 沉香 Agarwood 