Friday 26 September 2014

Karim agrees to idea of arming enforcement officers


KUCHING: A lawmaker agrees with Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s idea of arming enforcement officers of the state Forest Department.

Asajaya assemblyman Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said the idea was good as it would give confidence to the enforcement team in their daily work. He said that providing the enforcement team with guns did not mean they could shoot at anything.

Abdul Karim, who is Assistant Minister of Youth Development, said this in response to Adenan announcement Wednesday that Forest Department enforcement officers would be armed in the face of rampant illegal logging in the state of late.

Among others, Adenan said he had received many reports on timber smuggling, illegal logging, illegal sawmills and evasion of timber royalty which happened in broad daylight, adding that providing guns to the enforcement team would give them more confidence when carrying out their duties.

Abdul Karim said there were standard operation procedures (SOP) to be followed by the enforcement officers before they could discharge their weapon.

The officers, he added must go through rigorous training in arms handling.

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