There have been few convictions among hundreds of cases since the president’s first call to stamp out illegal logging in 2005. (Antara Photo) |
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The
National Police’s special crimes unit says it has disrupted an illegal logging
syndicate with the potential to cause significant damage in the Kubu Raya
district of West Kalimantan.
Police say
the operation, under way since Monday, has resulted in the seizure of thousands
of mahang hardwood logs.
“The timber
was still in the form of raw logs, numbering 1,869. We are in the process of
measuring and counting them with expert witnesses from the Forestry Ministry,”
a police officer taking part in the investigation said on Wednesday.
“The
suspect is an individual with the initials A.I. He is not a forestry license
holder but a local businessman from Pontianak,” said the source, who wished to
remain anonymous because he was not authorized to discuss the case.
A.I. will
be charged with illegal logging under the Law on Forestry. He could face up to
10 years in prison or a Rp 5 billion ($555,000) fine if convicted.
Mahang is a
“pioneer” species that tends to colonize logged areas. It is used by local
residents for temporary structures that are not in direct contact with the
ground, as well as for interior moldings. For export it is usually combined
with other timber pulp to make particleboard and plywood.
When
contacted on Wednesday, the director of the special crimes unit, Brig. Gen.
Anas Yusuf, declined to confirm the details of the operation.
Last April,
a joint team from the West Kalimantan Police’s criminal investigations unit and
their National Police counterparts seized thousands of cubic meters of timber
belonging to logging company Wana Bangun Agung.
The timber,
believed to have been logged illegally, was found in the possession of a
plywood company in Arang Limbung, which, as with the location of this week’s
seized logs, is also in Kubu Raya district.
In that
earlier operation, the police found numerous logs that were not of the 21
species that are legally allowed to be felled under a 2007 Forestry Ministry
regulation. The logs were felled from near Putussibau, in the Kapuas Hulu
district of West Kalimantan. Farouk Arnaz
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