A man in Stung Treng province was charged on Wednesday for illegally collecting and transporting luxury wood without a permit, a provincial court official said yesterday, as similar charges and timber seizures were reported in multiple provinces.

Chea Pech, Stung Treng provincial prosecutor, said the man, whom he declined to name, had been placed in pre-trial detention after he was stopped on Wednesday in a van packed with 53 pieces of luxury wood in Stung Treng district.

Meanwhile, So Sovichea, a spokesman for the Mondulkiri provincial prosecutor, said that Forestry Administration officials on Tuesday had confiscated two cars with 16 pieces of luxury wood totalling more than 2 cubic metres in Keo Seima district, and had also confiscated 15 motorbikes for carrying wood.

In Pursat, provincial prosecutor Long Cheap said he had charged alleged timber transporter Poch Noeun, 36, for transporting and collecting rare forestry products. Noeun was apprehended on Tuesday while travelling along National Road 5 in Pursat’s Bakan district.

“They arrested the man with a truck carrying 2,882 kilograms of rosewood,” Cheap said yesterday.

Cheap added that “the prosecutor charged him that afternoon”, and that the case had been sent to the investigating judge.