Agarwood attracts foreign thieves

News I Re-post from : asiaonenews

KOTA KINABALU: Gaharu trees, or agarwood, in Sabah are being eyed by illegal loggers, some of them coming from abroad.

The Forestry Department here said people from neighbouring countries have been caught in Sabah’s forest reserves trying to steal the wood which is used in the perfume industry.

“These men came to Sabah on the pretext of work, but slowly made their way into the forest reserve.The department’s deputy director, Rahim Sulaiman, said two people were caught in the Kalabakan forest reserve recently for attempting to log the gaharu trees.

“Luckily, they were caught and charged with trespassing and illegal extraction of gaharu in a forest reserve,” he said, after the opening ceremony of an agarwood tree plantation and agarwood production seminar here yesterday.

Agarwood fetches about RM12,000 per kg and Peninsular Malaysia’s gaharu exports are worth RM72 million annually.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Malaysia can harvest up to 200,000 kg of the wood this year.

There are 1,753ha of agarwood plantations in Peninsular Malaysia, and 38ha in Sabah, followed by 10ha in Sarawak.