Forestry Official, Reporter Arrested and Released

A forestry officer and a reporter from a little-known newspaper were arrested Friday on allegations of attempted extortion and assaulting a man they caught illegally transporting luxury timber, but were released on Saturday, military police officials said yesterday. Seng Chandaron, the chief of Sandan commune Forestry Administration in Kratie province’s Sambor district, and Khut Khy, a reporter for Today News,along with three other forestry officials currently at large, are believed to have tried to extort money from Tit Phally, who was transporting two pieces of luxury wood on a boat. … Mr. Khy, the journalist, allegedly boarded the boat, hit Mr. Phally with a paddle and threatened to handcuff him, the military police said. According to Mr. Sokunthea [chief of military police in Kratie’s Sambor district], Mr. Khy frequent;y colluded with forestry officials-tipping them off when he found illegal logs and then working with the officials to extort money from the wood smugglers. … Despite the allegations, just a day after the arrest, the forestry official and the journalist were released Kratie provincial military police said. …