Tonnes of illegal timber seized
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Deforestation has continued involving both Myanmar nationals as well as Chinese smugglers.
The Forest Department this week located more than 4,000 logs cut by Chinese timber smugglers in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, adding to the thousands already seized there.
In another development, the Environmental Conservation and Forestry Ministry revealed that in three days, more than 1,000 tonnes of smuggled timber were seized in Momeik and Mabane townships in northern Shan State.
So far, the Forest Department has seized 16,121 logs. On January 2, 138 Chinese illegal timber smugglers were arrested. Also, authorities seized equipment used in the illegal venture, including a digger, three tractors, two cranes, 436 timber transport trucks, four cars and nine motorbikes.
The arrested Chinese citizens are being detained at a prison in Kachin State, and investigations are ongoing, according to the Kachin State Government Committee, which reported that the Chinese have also been charged with drug possession.
Chinese citizens have been illegally extracting Myanmar’s natural resources, including timber, since the beginning of 2012. If convicted of offences under the Forest Act and the Immigration Act, smugglers could face prison sentences ranging from one to five years.
Nearly 40,000 tonnes of hardwood were confiscated in Myanmar last year. Most of the smugglers are Chinese.
About US$7 billion in illegal wood is smuggled into China annually, and 90 per cent of it is from Myanmar, according to a study presented at a forum of the Myanmar Forest Association.
According to the Environmental Conservation and Forestry Ministry, from April 2-3, 826.18 tonnes of unclaimed teak and other hardwoods and 14 chainsaws were found and confiscated along the Shweli River in Kyaukme District, northern Shan State.
On April 4, another 197 tonnes of teak and hardwood were found without any owner in the Supote Forest Ring, Mabane Township.
“We’ve been striving to control illegal timber trading in cooperation with the military,” said an official from the ministry.
An illegal sawmill and 170 tonnes of wood were seized last month in Yatsauk, Shan State.
There have been reports that a gang of Chinese wood smugglers ran the illegal logging operations near the Shweli River.
