Kampong Speu provincial authorities found 12 logs measuring a total of 40 cubic metres in a two-day operation over Tuesday and Wednesday in Oral district’s Sangke Satoap commune. Three trucks also found at the scene were impounded.

Provincial governor Vey Samnang said two of the discovered logs were 96cm wide and more than 6m long.

“We found two logs on Tuesday and the other 10 on Wednesday. Most of them were from mrenh and koki trees,” Samnang said.

He said some of the confiscated logging materials would be destroyed, while the timber would be kept temporarily at the Oral district Forestry Administration.

The National Military Police confirmed the discovery on its Facebook page on Wednesday. It said the three impounded vehicles would be handed over to Oral district Military Police.

Samnang said the logs were believed to have been transported to Kampong Speu from Kratie province to evade large-scale crackdowns there by the National Committee for Prevention and Crackdown on Natural Resource Crimes.

Kampong Speu provincial joint forces on Sunday also found six vehicles used in logging concealed on an orange farm in Oral district’s Trapaing Chor commune.

The trucks were used to haul timber in Pursat province but were brought to Kampong Speu to be hidden, Samnang said.