THIRTY-one people have been arrested for the alleged illegal mining of non-radioactive rare earth elements (NR-REE) at the Bintang Hijau Forest Reserve in Hulu Perak, police said.

Perak police chief Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said cops conducted several raids with the Perak Forestry Department under Op Khazanah.

He said 28 people were arrested in one raid at the Bintang Hijau Forest Reserve at 3.30pm on December 8.

“Nine of them were locals and the rest were foreigners. We made follow-up arrests of three more suspects, one local and two foreigners, at other locations,” he said.

He said the foreigners, aged 23 to 69, included 16 Chinese men, three Myanmar men, one Myanmar woman and one Vietnamese woman.

“All the foreigners did not have valid travel documents and police have opened investigation papers under section 6(1)(c) and section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63,” he said.

He said the Malaysian suspects were remanded for three days while the foreigners were remanded for 14 days under section 51(5)(B) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.

The Forestry Department would file separate charges for offences under the National Forestry Act 1984, he said. – Bernama, December 13, 2023.