Logging and timber

The Foreign Affairs Ministry is looking into a Thai media report that seven Cambodian illegal loggers were involved in a gunfight with Thai soldiers Thursday that culminated in one Cambodian suffering serious injuries and all of the suspects being arrested, a ministry spokesman said. ...

Forestry officials confiscated 13 cubic meters of illegally logged timber in Stung Treng City on Saturday after discovering the wood hidden in a pond and the surrounding underbrush, an official said Sunday. ...

Police from Takeo province came under fire in neighboring Kampot province early Sunday morning as they pursued a truck transporting a load of luxury wood while four other cars tried to protect the truck carrying the timber, according to officials, who said police managed to ...

The head of the Forestry Administration’s Mondolkiri cantonment said Monday that he had accused one man over an August 1 incident in which military police freed the drivers of four trucks transporting illegally logged timber from the custody of anti-economic crime police and escaped with ...

Police in Kratie province say they are searching for the driver of a truck who had been transporting illegally logged timber through Snuol district early Saturday morning when it overturned and burst into flames. ...

Four reporters accused a forestry official in Ratanakkiri province of locking them behind the gate of the local Forestry Administration headquarters Thursday morning in an attempt to stop them from reporting on the transport of illegally logged luxury wood. ...

The manager of a Vietnamese rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province accused of illegally logging in collusion with local military police denied the claims Tuesday but admitted to calling on police to quell protests. ...

Five Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers while illegally logging across the border during the first half of the year, according to the government’s latest figures, roughly on par with last year. ...

A vehicle transporting 18 cubic metres of illegally logged timber was stopped on Saturday night by the Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT) in Kampong Speu province and is believed to belong to a military officer currently involved in a prior lawsuit over contraband ...

A soldier and two civilians were charged on Wednesday with illegally clearing forest land by the Kompong Thom Provincial Court, while a second soldier who allegedly guarded the illicit operation has been charged with illegal weapons possession, a court official said Thursday. ...

The analysis, from campaign group Forest Trends, says that large corporations are using legitimate development permits to illegally clear land.Around 2,000 sq km of forests are being lost every year, they say. ...

A forest peoples’ network has appealed to tycoon Try Pheap to issue a written commitment to put a halt to his companies’ deforestation activities after he told the Post last week that his logging days are over. ...

An inspection of a truck transporting cassava through Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district on Tuesday revealed a massive haul of luxury rosewood. ...

CNRP lawmaker Un Sam An sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday asking for an investigation of Try Pheap’s Special Economic Zone in Ratanakkiri province, saying that the timber magnate is misusing the site to export illegally logged trees to Vietnam.   ...

A ban on the importation of chainsaws into Cambodia could be in the offing, after agriculture officials this week called for a nationwide crackdown on the illegal logging trade. ...

An illegal-meat dealer was arrested in Ratanakkiri province on Monday after 65 kg of gaur meat and two heads of the endangered bovine species were discovered along with two dried tiger skins during a raid of his home, an official said. ...

Preah Vihear province Try Pheap wants to turn over a new leaf.In an exclusive interview with the Post at the opening ceremony of his vast plantation in Preah Vihear province on Sunday, the media-shy tycoon spoke of a desire to cultivate a new image – ...

Two men were arrested in Kompong Thom province on Tuesday after they drove their car to obstruct a team of officials in pursuit of a vehicle suspected of transporting illegally harvested luxury timber through Stung Sen City, police said. ...

After marching for Prey Lang forest, the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice now plans to station monks in the forest for two week anti-logging “patrols.” ...

A loacal NGO director and a village chief in Battambang’s Samlot district were summoned for questioning by district police today over a complaint filed by six loggers, who claim the men attempted to extort $6,000 from them under the threat of violence. ...

Farmers in Cambodia who depend on forest products for their livelihood face an uncertain future because of dwindling forests. ...

CNRP lawmakers have written to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking him to stop the ongoing illegal logging of northeast Cambodia’s Virachey National Park, which they said they witnessed during a recent trip and blamed on businessmen An Mady and Try Pheap. ...

Members of the ethnic Jarai community in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district have lodged a complaint with the provincial court, demanding that it take legal action against four Vietnamese nationals and two Cambodian border officials for offences related to illegal logging. ...

Forestry officials in Oddar Meanchey province on Wednesday discovered a timber processing plant and thousands of lengths of luxury-grade wood in a remote forested area populated only by soldiers, officials said Thursday. ...