Paramilitary rangers and administrative officials in Ubon Ratchathani on Thursday confiscated 40 Siamese Rosewood logs from a gang of four to five suspects who were about to load the logs from their car onto a boat for smuggling across the Mekong river into Laos.

A 30-strong patrol team at the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Thong Chai district discovered a scene of illegal logging of Siamese Rosewood trees in the middle of the forest early on Sunday but all those involved had fled before they arrived.