Mon State forestry officials say they have netted a record haul of illegally harvested luxury timber and revealed a smuggling pipeline operating from Yangon to Mon State’s seaport.
The first bust at the end of February reportedly caught seven 12-wheeled trucks shipping more than 50 tons of illegal hardwood, including luxury padauk and tamalan varieties. The truck drivers admitted that the logs were being transported from Yangon to Mudon Township, the Mon State Forestry Department said at a March 1 press briefing.
Further investigation of the two sites netted further seizures. In Kamarwet Village, officials discovered a deposit of 60 tons of illegal logs. And in a nearby sub-township of Mudon township, another 70 tons were seized.
“When we asked the truck drivers and conductor[s] where they had unloaded the logs before, they replied that they dropped them off near Kamarwet Village, after Mudon Town,” said U Min Thein Myint, director of the Mon State Forestry Department. “When we and the police went to check [those locations], we found over 130 tons of padauk and tamalan wood.”
He added that the state forestry department believes the timber was slated for international export, to be smuggled through the state’s seaport.
A fourth seizure appeared to confirm the Yangon-Mon State route. Between February 24 and 25, over 50 tons of padauk and tamalan wood was seized from trucks on the Yangon-Mudon highway. Of the seven trucks busted, one was stopped in Paung Town, three were seized in Mottama Town and another three were stopped at a tollgate just outside Mudon Town.
In total, 10 people were arrested in the seizures, and are facing charges under section 42(b) of the forestry law for extracting, moving or possessing timber from a preserved tree without a permit. They could face a K 20,000 fine or two years in prison if convicted.
“We already transferred the arrestees to the court. We are still investigating to find out who owned the logs,” said U Aye Naing, assistant director of the Mon State Forestry Department. “The court will likely order that the government take the impounded trucks, while the logs will be taken by the forestry department.”
The state forestry officials said the 180 tons of illegal timber seized last month mark the largest-ever illegal log bust carried out in Mon State.
The story is originally translated and edited by Burma News International>> https://goo.gl/x9dhvo
