Illegal log shipment tracked cross-country

By The Nation 

 

 

A taskforce of forestry officials and crime-suppression police intercepted a truck carrying illegally felled logs in Samut Prakan on Friday morning after tracking it overnight all the way from northern Nan province.

 

The taskforce – made up of Phayak Prai Forest Protection Operations Centre agents led by Cheewapap Cheewatham and Natural Resources and Environment Department Crime Suppression Police – had begun following the truck late Thursday evening after noticing suspicious activity.

 

They tailed the truck until it stopped in a carpark in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district, examined the contents and arrested the driver.

 

Inside the 60-cubic-metre truck was tamalan wood prepared for export. Cheewapap estimated the sale value at around Bt15 million.

 

At almost the same time, officials were separately searching three sawmills in Ayutthaya province suspected of illegal activity. Logs and processed planks were seized.

 

Cheewapap said the taskforce would expand its operations and try to arrest the bosses behind the illegal logging.

 

The force has in recent years frequently confronted transnational logging gangs, for which phayung and tamalan wood are in particularly high demand.

 

Earlier this week logs about to be transported along the Mekong River were intercepted in Chiang Rai and forestry officials were found to be involved. One official on temporary hire was sacked.

 

The discovery raised concerns about the extent of official collusion in the illegal activities.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30342612

 

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I once made a suggestion that each providence set aside an area for rosewood,tamalan,as a preserve.It would be following the kings wishes of using resources carefully.I was told they took too long to grow.

18 hours ago, webfact said:

after tracking it overnight all the way from northern Nan province

...while all police and military staff at checkpoints were watching patriotic soaps on their mobile phones.

18 hours ago, dorchester said:

I once made a suggestion that each providence set aside an area for rosewood,tamalan,as a preserve.It would be following the kings wishes of using resources carefully.I was told they took too long to grow.

 

Of course it is a good idea. And there is limitless barren land that was cleared and encroached on illegally that could be used. But the problem is they just haven't been able to protect the forests. This story is a glimpse of the issue. Planting an entire hillside with valuable trees say worth a billion baht growing nearby would be too great of a temptation and all disappear before it matured. It would be sold by corrupt officials, subject to theft, repeated encroachment, or lost due to the annual fires set everywhere. Step 1: develop a comprehensive plan to protect the forests and assure it works. Step 2: plant. Instead we are in a downward cycle of depleted, disappearing forests where the people take everything they want. Step 1 may never be realized in our lifetimes. The real reason your suggestion is not taken seriously is no one cares from the poorest villagers all the way up the chain. It seems only outsiders like yourself have a vision of what could be.

 

They followed it all that way, why not to its final destination,

they could have stopped it just outside Nan,with the  same

results

regards worgeordie

I once made a suggestion that each providence set aside an area for rosewood,tamalan,as a preserve.It would be following the kings wishes of using resources carefully.I was told they took too long to grow.

Take “too long to grow” Hillarious.
Trees are a renewable resource that are successful managed in many regions for ages.
Never mind.