PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained 34 people nationwide in connection with sand smuggling activities, said its deputy chief commissioner (Operations), Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull.

He said the arrests involved 24 civil servants, five members of the public, a special officer and a private secretary to two politicians.

"Since last year, MACC received 410 tip-offs on sand smuggling. Based on the information received and our own investigation, we launched a special operation to nab those involved last week," he told a press conference at the MACC's headquarters here yesterday.

Mohd Shukri said the estimated corruption amount in the cases involved was in excess of RM280,000, with those arrested having received amounts ranging from RM500 to RM50,000.

"There were cases of individuals receiving monthly bribes while three cases involved corruption in the form of sexual favours," he said.

He said the bribes were given for processing sand mining permits, expediting the processing of such permits and not taking action against individuals involved in sand smuggling.

Asked about the states and departments involved, Mohd Shukri said he was not able to divulge the details as yet.

However, he said the civil servants caught were senior officers or head of departments, support staff and professionals.

"I cannot say very much on the action to come. What I can tell you is that we expect to make several more arrests including people in high positions."

Asked if the net involved any politicians, Mohd Shukri said:"We cannot say. Just wait and see."

Commenting on an arrest made in a particular State yesterday afternoon on the same matter, Mohd Shukri said there were attempts to prevent the individual from being brought to the MACC headquarters, but the person was taken in to give a statement after discussions with the suspect's lawyers that lasted almost two hours.

He also urged the public to cooperate with the MACC to tackle corruption.

"We act based on the information from the public. You won't lose by cooperating with us. When we act, the MACC does not gain anything. When we help tackle corruption, the states don't lose revenue," he said.

Since Tuesday, he said, some of the individuals caught were released after their statements were taken while the others were still in MACC's custody.

Earlier this morning at the Kajang magistrate court in Putrajaya, nine of the arrested individuals were given a five-day remand till Monday.

Among those was Selangor executive councillor Yaakob Sapari's secretary Hussein Ahmad.

Hussein's lawyer, Imran Hadzalie Abd Hamid, who's also acting for assistant general manager of a company linked to the Selangor state government, told the Press that he had objected to the remand.

"This is as if my client as well as the others are already convicted and are wrong. When my client said he is able to go to MACC every day, why do they not consider this option?

"This is not fair," said Imran.

Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Elected Representatives Officers Association president Abdul Razak Ismail expressed disappointment at the arrest and remand.

MACC had already seized most of the documents from his (Yaakob's) office, there's no need to detain a man who needs medicine," said Abdul Razak, adding that Hussein suffers from diabetes.