Forestry administration and other related authorities seized a large amount of illegal timber and a number of vehicles, including boats, used for transporting timber. fresh news
Forestry administration and other related authorities seized a large amount of illegal timber and a number of vehicles, including boats, used for transporting timber.
Kratie province’s Sambor district Military Police commander Sum Sokunthea told The Post on Sunday that anti-natural resource crime forces had patrolled the Mekong River and found a boat loaded with timber moored in Vattanak commune in Sambor district, Kratie province.
They handed over the timber-loaded boat to the Forestry Administration for further investigation.
“The villagers said the boat had been moored there to load timber on Friday morning, but no one knew who owned it.
“The villagers only saw a few workers who fled when they saw the authorities arrive,” Sokunthea said.
Kratie provincial Forestry Administration deputy director Buoy Ratana told The Post on Sunday that the officials in charge were measuring the timber and looking for the owner of the boat.
“If no one claims ownership of the boat and the timber, the authorities will record the items as an asset of unidentified persons and seize it as state property,” Ratana said.
In another case, the authority in Stung Treng province busted two vehicles and a boat transporting a large load of timber.
Stung Treng provincial Forestry Administration director Orn Chan Socheat said on Sunday that in the operation from November 18 to 20, they confiscated a boatload of timber in Kbal Romeas commune, in Sesan district.
They also busted illegal timber transported by two vans along National Road 7, near Security Post 722 in Siem Bok district.
“Our forces had identified the owners of those vans. We will summon them to solve the issue according to legal procedure.
“The timber was already processed and produced as windows and doors,” Chan Socheat said.
Oddar Meanchey busts
In Oddar Meanchey, the Military Police had a joint operation with the Forestry Administration on November 20 and 21.
Busted were seven timber processing facilities which produced furniture and stored illegal timber in Srah Chhouk village, Trapaing Brei commune in Anlong Veng district. Some 50 cubic metres of timber were seized.
“Even though they had collected the timber from villagers who sourced them from the forest or in their farms, that was not the matter.
“What’s important is that they processed the timber illegally, or that permits they received had expired,” said Anlong Veng district Military Police chief Nguon Rithy.
