KUANTAN, Sept 28 — The Pahang Forestry Department (JPNP) has destroyed vegetable farms covering 16.98 hectares in four protected forests in Cameron Highlands, Berita Harian reported today.

The five-day destruction operation was said to prevent local residents who employed foreign workers from trespassing on state land to cultivate various types of vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, cabbages, and onions.

"In addition to conventional ground planting methods, wire-frame techniques were also used, particularly on hill slopes. The destruction of ground-level vegetable crops was carried out using machetes,” Datuk Zahari Ibrahim, director-general of the Peninsular Malaysian Forestry Department (JPSM), was quoted as saying.

He said the four protected forest areas covered were: Sungai Ichat Forest Reserve (0.9 hectares), Batu Gangan Forest Reserve (1.22 hectares), Mentigi Forest Reserve (5.7 hectares), and Bertam Forest Reserve (9.16 hectares).

He said the operation took five days to complete, ending yesterday, and involved 148 personnel from various enforcement agencies due to the challenging hilly terrain, with some of the vegetable gardens located on steep slopes.

As an example, he said enforcers had to hike 6km to reach the encroached area in the Bertam Forest Reserve.

He said 20 illegal structures – such as storage sheds for fertilisers and houses built out of plastic – within the four protected forests were also destroyed.

"In addition to destroying the vegetable crops in the protected forest, we also planted about 2,300 forest trees,” he told the Malay newspaper.

Zahari said that the Cameron Highlands District Forestry Office had put up 12 notice boards in early July, warning encroachers to vacate the area in order to provide them a chance to stop their vegetable planting activities, but appeared to have been ignored.

"The strict action to destroy the vegetable crops and structures was taken because it violates the law under Section 32 (1) of the National Forestry Act 1984 for encroaching into protected forest areas.

"During the raid, the foreign workers involved in the farms managed to escape, as they likely detected the operation in advance,” he was quoted as saying.

Zahari noted that there is a possibility that local residents may be orchestrating these activities by employing foreign workers as full-time agricultural laborers, with the agricultural produce being marketed by those involved.

"JPSM and JPNP will continue to enhance monitoring in all protected forest areas in the district to ensure they are not encroached upon by irresponsible parties using foreign workers.

"Integrated operations in the highlands of Cameron Highlands will be conducted periodically to ensure that illegal vegetable planting in protected forests is completely curtailed,” he was quoted as saying.