Kudus, Central Java (ANTARA News) - As many as 40 illegal logging financiers are now on the wanted lists of the National Police Headquarters and the Forestry Ministry, Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban said here Friday.
"We are now not only pursuing illegal loggers in the field but also those higher up, especially the people who finance the criminal activity," Kaban said during a working visit in Rahtawu village, Gebog, Kudus district, to observe the implementation of a forest and land rehabilitation program.
Asked about the involvement of government officials in the illegal activity, the minister admitted there were cases implicating people officially working for the government, including a major general, a government service head and clerks. Their cases were now being handled by law enforcers.
He said catching the financiers was more difficult than arresting operators in the field because the former often operated through an untraceable system or behind the scenes. "Some of them have so far not been caught because they are very cunning," he said.
However, illegal logging activity in the country as a whole had dropped sharply while in a number of regions where it used to be rife such as Jambi, Riau, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan, it appeared to have ceased entirely, he noted.
"But the national illegal logging eradication campaign will be continued," Kaban said, adding that the government was now protecting about 30 million hectares of virgin forests or more forests than were to be found in the Amazon region.
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