Hunt on for illegal loggers as timber found in Ratanakkiri
RATANAKKIRI provincial and O’Yadav district police forces seized 30 logs of mixed timber from a plantation in Pak Nhay commune’s Lom village on Sunday.
Police suspect traders hid the logs at the plantation while they waited to transport them to be sold in Vietnam.
District police chief Souy Samnang told The Post on Monday that the joint force was led by the deputy police chief in charge of anti-crime, Nov Dara.
The plantation is located along the Cambodia-Vietnam borderline and the logs were found in a forest nearby.
A motorbike which police suspect would be used to transport the timber was also found near the pile of logs. “Most of the logs measure 40cm in diameter and are 2.53m long,” he said.
Samnang said the logs and the motorbike were handed over to O’Yadav Forestry Administration experts. They will analyse them in an attempt to identify the owner, who will face legal action if caught.
Provincial Forestry Administration deputy head Hong Kea told The Post on Monday that he has yet to receive an official report on the measurement of the logs.
In a separate incident on June 25, Forestry Administration police forces seized 21 pieces of sralao timber.
Kea said that if the perpetrators are identified, they will be fined according to the law. But if no one comes forward to confess, the wood will be considered “timber of unidentified persons” and listed as state property.