Pair quizzed over luxury timber haul + Villagers on patrol take two loggers

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Phak Seangly

Two men were arrested in Pailin province on Saturday and detained for allegedly transporting one tonne of rosewood from Thailand into Cambodia.

Police said the suspects, Khem Seyla, 35, and Ran Poy, 25, were caught with a total of 19 pieces of rosewood.

“They hid the timber in a pond for selling them to a broker in town, but were seen and stopped,” the police commander said. The wood was impounded.

Chum Sensothea, chief prosecutor at the Pailin provincial court, confirmed that the two suspects had been sent to court, but had not yet been charged.

“We are waiting for the information from the forest officer to make a final conclusion. The two men will be detained at the provincial police station for one more night,” he said.

Chhim Chamnan, chief of the Cambodia-Thailand Border Relations office in Pailin province, said that the case was under investigation.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pair-quizzed-over-luxury-timber-haul

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Villagers on patrol take two loggers

Mon, 2 June 2014

Phak Seangly

Members of the Kuoy ethnic group captured two loggers and seized two chainsaws on Saturday, accusing the alleged loggers of felling resin trees illegally at Prey Preah Rokar community forest in Preah Vihear.

Forty-three community villagers patrolling the forest stopped and questioned two loggers, who said they were from Kampot province and cut the trees to be used in the building houses.

After signing a contract promising not to do it again, the two suspects were released.

“We realised they had cut down trees along the river for months,” said a community villager, who believed the duo had been hired to cut the trees.

“The forestry crimes occurred rampantly, but no authority intercepted, only my community,” she added. “We have seized 10 chainsaws since 2013.”

The patrol was set up confidentially to conceal it from those who may have contacts with authorities. But a Preah Vihear provincial forestry official said most of the loggers come from within the community.