Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has vowed to fight illegal loggers amid claims from local and opposition leaders that criminal syndicates are engaged in the activity.

"We will make sure our enforcement is tough (to protect the environment)," he told reporters at the sidelines of an international commodities conference.

Last month Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud revealed that gangsters were hired by illegal loggers to guard their logging operations, especially in protected areas.

"They not only encroach the forests, but also fell trees in the national parks," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Chong Chieng Jen, a DAP for Bandar Kuching in Sarawak told AFP that criminal gangs have been engaged in illegal logging for the past few years.

"It is shocking that only now, the chief minister is admitting it. Gangsters have been involved in illegal logging activities for at least five years," he said Tuesday.

The industry-backed Malaysian Timber Council reported a decline in illegal logging to 123 cases last year from 138 in 2005.

Earlier, Abdullah said that since land was becoming scarce in Malaysia, plantation owners cannot depend on opening up new land schemes due to environment concerns.

"It is important that you increase your productivity," he said.

Malaysia is the world's largest producer of palm oil. It is battling environmentalists' claims that plantations destroy vast swathes of tropical forest, pushing endangered animals like the orangutan towards extinction.