'Mak Siti' gold mining syndicate making RM13,000 a day busted

In Marang, an illegal gold mining syndicate earning up to RM13,000 daily has been dismantled following a raid by the Police General Operations Force (GOF). The operation, which detained 15 individuals, also resulted in the seizure of RM449,000 worth of mining equipment and machinery. The arrested individuals were a mix of four Malaysians and 11 foreigners, comprising 10 Cambodians and one Vietnamese national, all aged between 20 and 40.

The Cambodian woman, known as Mak Siti, is believed to have been the mastermind behind the operation. Police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Radzi Hussain, revealed that the syndicate had been operating for about a month on a 4.05ha plot, employing an array of heavy machinery, including eight water pumps, three generators, two gold screening machines, and a rock crusher.

The criminals exhumed pits up to 6 meters deep before processing the material to extract gold, which was then sold to a local buyer named Pak Lang. The syndicate could reportedly extract up to 40 grams of gold per day. The scale of this illegal mining operation in Bukit Kor has been revealed as more than mere small-scale activities, but rather an organized chain encompassing excavation, processing, gold extraction, and marketing. The landowner is also under investigation.