KUCHING: A father of two was fined RM8,000, in default eight months jail, by the Sessions Court here yesterday, for entering the Dered Krian National Park in Bau and taking geological materials in the form gold ores, in April 2021.
Kuan Boon Lung, 23, pleaded guilty to two charges before Judge Maris Agan.
He was charged under Section 26(a) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998, punishable under Section 32(a) of the same Ordinance for entering Dered Krian National Park without permission from the park warden.
He was also charged under Section 26(g) of the Ordinance with removing natural materials, geological rocks, in the same national park.
Both offences are punishable by a fine of up to RM5,000 each or imprisonment of up to one year, or both.
Kuan committed both offences at approximately 5.06pm on 16 April 2021.
According to the facts of the case, during the incident, Sarawak Forest Corporation (SFC) enforcement officials were conducting routine patrols in the Dered Krian National Park area in Bau.
During the patrol, the team arrested Kuan who had entered the national park area and confiscated the materials he was carrying believed to contain geological materials and some digging tools.
When arrested, he failed to show any valid permission to enter the national park to take and remove geological rock material in Dered Krian National Park from the park warden.
It is understood that the geological rock materials are raw gold.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Roland Felix Hardin prosecuted while the accused was represented by lawyer Lim Lian Kee.
