Forest products

Cambodian timber exports to Vietnam over the first six months of the year have almost surpassed the total amount for all of last year, according to Vietnamese customs data, despite an existing ban on the trade – which one analyst said had “entirely failed” in ...

The government has granted a private company an export licence to transport $15 million worth of illegal timber bought at an auction last year to Vietnam, documents show. ...

Police are investigating after a mob of villagers in Preah Vihear province let fly with fence posts in a clash with environmental officials following a logging bust, leaving the chief of Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary with a serious head injury. ...

A newly leaked document attesting to a $15,000 deal between representatives of Ratanakkiri’s Samut Krom village and a timber trader to allow Vietnamese-backed logging in the community’s forest appears to add further weight to its critique. ...

The ostensibly-outlawed export of logs to Vietnam increased in May, while the trade in sawn timber, also supposedly banned, remained substantial, new Vietnamese customs data shows. ...

A court investigation into illegal timber trafficking has targeted 11 provincial officials—including Mondolkiri’s heads of the military and military police, and potentially a court prosecutor—prompting the case’s transfer to Phnom Penh at the request of the justice minister, officials said on Tuesday. ...

A high-profile investigation into corruption charges levelled against Mondulkiri police officials for colluding with Vietnamese timber traders has been transferred from the provincial court to Phnom Penh due to a lethargic investigation by local police, many of whom are involved in the case, a court ...

King Norodom Sihamoni yesterday oversaw a tree planting ceremony in Kandal province to mark the 27th Arbor Day, pleading for all citizens to protect the country’s forests. ...

The Kratie provincial government yesterday denied reports that the provincial forestry chief was being removed from his position following allegations that he was colluding with illegal timber traders. ...

Environmental activist Ven Vorn has been given a second chance to have an illegal logging conviction overturned after the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered his case sent back to the Appeal Court for review. ...

The Environment Ministry plans to plant 500,000 trees in protected areas across the country this year, to boost forest cover and improve the livelihoods of communities. ...

Three men were sent to court yesterday for allegedly hauling more than 18 tonnes of illegally logged first-grade timber in Kampong Thom province. ...

Police have arrested three people and seized ten tonnes of thnong wood from a truck near the Thai border in Preah Vihear province.   ...

National Military Police spokesman Eng Hy said legal action is being “considered” after a news outlet published a report linking the force’s commander, Sao Sokha, to the illegal timber trade. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a Vietnamese  businesswoman, who stormed a forestry office to steal her seized timber, to two years imprisonment and a fine of $12,500. ...

More than a month after confirming its investigation into new reports of rampant timber trafficking between Cambodia and Vietnam, the Environment Ministry remains tight-lipped about what—if any—progress it is making, but says the U.K. NGO that exposed the scale of the problem is itself being ...

According to the figures, Vietnam imported 21,670 cubic metres of sawn wood valued at $13.7 million in April, a 27 percent drop compared to February and an almost 50 percent decrease compared to March. ...

The top military and police officials in Mondolkiri province have opened investigations into some of their soldiers and officers after a news story claimed they were involved in timber trafficking into Vietnam. ...

The wife of the Srekor commune police chief in Stung Treng province has been charged and placed in pre-trial detention for possessing some 400 logs of luxury wood near the couple’s home. ...

A Vietnamese national reputed to be a prominent illegal timber trader is believed to have fled to her native country after the Oddar Meanchey provincial governor ordered her arrest last week. ...

In the first and only day of her trial yesterday, prominent alleged timber trader Heng Samnieng claimed that Military Police officers had tried to sell off pieces of timber confiscated by authorities in Stung Treng, where she was arrested in October while allegedly attempting to ...

A man and woman have been arrested after police and Forestry Department officers were tipped off about a pick-up truck carrying luxury timber across Kampong Thom province. ...

Sixteen Cambodians were arrested on Monday for illegally crossing the border to log luxury rosewood trees in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. The men, aged between 16 and 55, were all residents of Battambang province. They were arrested in Pang Sida National Park with logging tools and ...

A truck full of high-grade timber was seized in Kampong Speu’s Oral district on Monday afternoon by District Military Police forces and the NGO WildAid’s crime interception team, but the driver remains at large. .. ...