Illegal log shipment tracked cross-country
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.