The five suspects, all settlers aged between 40 and 60, were detained on Monday after giving statements at the MACC office in Pahang’s Raub district. They have been remanded for four days until Friday, according to Free Malaysia Today.
Investigators suspect the men ran illegal durian farms and funneled the proceeds through money laundering schemes between 2024 and 2025, earning “profits amounting to hundreds of thousands of ringgits” (RM100,000 = US$23,800).
“All suspects, including four who are farmers, are believed to be involved in this illegal trade that has been passed down through generations,” sources told The Star, adding that they were also found to have refused to participate in a legalization program offered by Royal Pahang Durian, the company appointed by the state government as the official land leaseholder.
Mohd Shukor Mahmud, director of the Pahang branch of MACC, confirmed the arrests and said further detentions could follow as investigations continue.
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This picture taken on Feb. 8, 2021 shows durians hanging on a tree at a farm in Raub in Malaysia’s Pahang state. Photo by AFP |
In recent years, durian has grown into an important trade for Malaysia, with exports surging over 250% over five years to RM1.14 billion (US$271 million) in 2022. The figure is expected to climb further to RM1.5 billion this year.
Pahang is a major producer of the fruit. Raub, in particular, is home to around 150,000 trees spread across 2,000 hectares of government land. It is regarded as Malaysia’s durian capital and dubbed the “Musang King Durian Town,” according to The Straits Times.
The recent arrests came amid a campaign targeting illegal orchards, a long-standing problem in the state, according to the New Straits Times.
The campaign, launched by the Pahang government last April, has occasionally made headlines, particularly after authorities felled more than 1,000 durian trees in Raub between April and May.
By August, the number of trees chopped down had exceeded 3,000 and more than 10,000 hectares of unauthorized farms had been sealed off. Some 129 people had been detained, with 12 cases taken to court and resulting in jail terms of up to 12 months and fines reaching RM200,000 for most offenders.
Last month, MACC and the Pahang State Enforcement Unit also identified 33 illegal orchards on state land and in permanent forest reserves.
