The Siem Reap Provincial Court has charged and placed a man in pre-trial detention over illegal hunting and logging in Sar commune’s Changkran Roy waterfall community.
Siem Reap Provincial Court spokesman Yin Sreang said on Sunday that the court decided to detain the man on Saturday.
“The court detained him on January 31 under Article 98 of the Forestry Law for unauthorised harvesting of forest products. He has been provisionally detained until further court proceedings,” he said.
Siem Reap’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries director Tea Kim Soth said on Sunday that the suspect was sent to court after police arrested him on Saturday laying wildlife traps and logging in the community.
He said the arrest was made when a coalition of officials patrolled the community forest in the Changkran Roy waterfall area.
The authorities, he said, spotted five suspects, but were only able to detain one as the other four fled into their forest.
Kim Soth said the operation resulted in the confiscation of five chainsaws, five rifles, 10 animal traps, 230 sawn planks and 67 strips of wood.
“The evidence has been sent to the Sre Noy Forestry Administration in compliance with Forestry Law procedures,” Kim Soth said.
In a similar case, Mondulkiri provincial police are questioning a 61-year-old suspect identified as Sou Chanrith for transporting 54 pieces of Neang Nuon timber in Keo Seima district.
Mondulkiri Forestry Administration director Ouk Sovann Sopheak said Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary official were interrogating the man.
“Police officers are questioning the suspect. We are uncertain of the outcome as yet,” he said.
On January 30, Mondulkiri provincial police and Keo Seima district military police seized a Toyota Camry sedan carrying the 54 pieces of timber, said a report from the Royal Gendarmerie on Facebook.
The report said police then arrested Sou Chanrith. He and the evidence were handed over to the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary for further proceedings.
