Farmer slashes another over banana plants

MIRI: The police have arrested a farmer who slashed another with a machete because the latter allegedly planted banana plants on the former's plot of farmland adjacent to his.
The 52-year-old assailant attacked his 69-year-old neighbour at 8.30am on Sunday in a coffeeshop in Sepupok Niah here, said Miri Police chief ACP Khoo Leng Huat.
The victim's 41-year-old son lodged a police report after the attack which left his father with five-centimetre-long slash wounds on the right arm and right knee and injured three fingers of his right hand, he said.
"An initial investigation revealed that the two farmers owned adjacent plots of farmland, each about three acres 1.21ha in size," he said, adding that police also seized a machete.
Khoo said in a statement today that the injured farmer had been admitted to the Miri Hospital and his condition was stable.
He also said an application was made yesterdayto remand the suspect for investigation. — Bernama