Police have arrested four local men and a Filipino, believed to be poachers, and confiscated weapons and other equipment, as well as a slaughtered deer, in the Sukau Wildlife Sanctuary, Kinabatangan, Sabah last night.

According to the commanding officer of Battalion 20 of Beluran General Operations Force, ACP Mohd Nasaruddin M Nasir, a police team from the battalion’s Tiger Platoon conducted Operasi Khazanah and arrested the suspects at about 11.30pm in the Sungai Tandu Batu area where they had set up camp in the sanctuary.

“The confiscated items include a handmade gun and its barrel, a live bullet, a parang, a 6m boat with a 15-horsepower engine, and another 4.5m boat with an 18-horsepower engine.

“Also confiscated was a deer which had been cut up into two. The total confiscation value was about RM33,000," he said in a statement today.

Mohd Nasaruddin added that the camp was later destroyed by the Sabah Wildlife Team which was part of the operations.

He said the suspects, aged between 33 and 51, and the confiscated items have been taken to the Kinabatangan Police Headquarters for investigations under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.

- Bernama