Police arrest Chinese man after finding illegal timber worth Bt30m

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Police arrest Chinese man after finding illegal timber worth Bt30m

By Suriya Patathayo 
The Nation

 

 

More than Bt30-million worth of protected timber was seized at a warehouse in Samut Prakan, which was reportedly pending export to China, and a Chinese national was arrested on suspicion of illegal trading.
 

Police and National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department’s “Phaya Suea”, or “Tiger King”, taskforce on Thursday conducted a raid on the warehouse in Bang Phli district and found nine crates of smuggled Siamese rosewood and Burma padauk timber, together worth more than Bt30 million. Officers also arrested five workers at the warehouse.

 

Deputy police chief General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said officers had tracked down a Chinese illegal timber dealing network and found that smuggled timber from Khao Yai National Park, Thap Lan National Park and Pang Sida National Park had been stored at the warehouse pending transport to China.

 

Officers interrogated one of the five workers who was arrested, leading to the apprehension of the Chinese national, who was identified only as “Hong”, at his office in Bangkok’s Sathon district. He was charged with possessing and trying to export protected timber.

 

Srivara said there had been more than 100 crates of timber smuggled to China transiting the warehouse.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30337152

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-25

[Topdoc]

[ratcatcher]

Does anyone know where this beautiful timber ends up?

Silly question really, once the court case is over, it is returned to the forest....................

[wakeupplease]

This is more like the truth

[worgeordie]

Pity they could not catch the loggers cutting the trees down,they always

catch them after it is all cut up and processed into planks,wonder why

that is .....

regards worgeordie

[The manic]

2 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Does anyone know where this beautiful timber ends up?

Silly question really, once the court case is over, it is returned to the forest....................

It's burned of course along with all then !drugs

[sjbrownderby]

Pity they could not catch the loggers cutting the trees down,they always

catch them after it is all cut up and processed into planks,wonder why

that is .....

Near to where I live there is a military/police base that straddles a closed off road through Thap Lan National Park. One day, when they left the barrier up and unmanned, we drove into the camp and saw a large number of vehicles some of which were quite new and a huge amount of confiscated timber all of which had been confiscated from poachers. So, at the very least, vehicles are confiscated before the lumber is cut up. Of course this very much depends on catching the perpetrators in the act of stealing the wood and obviously this is happening, you just don't hear about it.

 Something allied to this but not mentioned is the possible presence of wild tigers in the Kaho Yai/Thap Lan area. The authorities, quite rightly in my opinion, have not revealed the location of the trail cameras which recorded footage of wild tigers last year. 

[sjbrownderby]

11 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Pity they could not catch the loggers cutting the trees down,they always

catch them after it is all cut up and processed into planks,wonder why

that is .....

regards worgeordie

Near to where I live there is a military/police base that straddles a closed off road through Thap Lan National Park. One day, when they left the barrier up and unmanned, we drove into the camp and saw a large number of vehicles some of which were quite new and a huge amount of timber all of which had been confiscated from poachers. So, at the very least, vehicles are confiscated before the lumber is cut up. Of course this very much depends on catching the perpetrators in the act of stealing the wood and obviously this is happening, you just don't hear about it.

 Something allied to this but not mentioned is the possible presence of wild tigers in the Kaho Yai/Thap Lan area. The authorities, quite rightly in my opinion, have not revealed the location of the trail cameras which recorded footage of wild tigers last year. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by sjbrownderby

[Retiredandhappyhere]

On 1/25/2018 at 8:45 PM, ratcatcher said:

Does anyone know where this beautiful timber ends up?

Silly question really, once the court case is over, it is returned to the forest....................

Where I lived before near Nakhon Sawan, most of the neighbours bought their beautiful tables and chairs made from illegal timber  direct from the local producer........ a policeman!

Edited January 26, 2018 by Retiredandhappyhere
change one incorrect word

[sammieuk1]

Should built a wooden horse and rode out of town that would have fooled the keystones.

[chickenslegs]

Seems like good work by the police and National Park Taskforce - so far.

 

A Chinese national and some local labourers have been arrested, but it seems unlikely that such a crime could be committed without the involvement of Thai officials or "people of influence", so let's hope the investigation isn't over yet.