Authorities seize luxury wood in raids

Illegal thnong timber sits in the trunk of a car on Friday after it was seized by authorities in Ratanakkiri province. Photo supplied

Authorities seize luxury wood in raids

Mon, 9 May 2016 ppp

Mech Dara

Authorities seized about 140 pieces of high-grade thnong luxury timber in two separate busts in Ratanakkiri and Pursat provinces over the weekend.

Officials from the prosecutor’s office, Military Police and Forestry Administration in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district confiscated about 100 pieces of thnong from a rubber plantation on Friday afternoon, according to provincial deputy prosecutor Mam Vanda. The wood’s owner has yet to be identified.

“We will summon the owner of the land for questioning . . . we will ask them whether they owned the land or gave it to someone to look after,” said Vanda.

At 8pm the following evening in Pursat’s Phnom Kravanh district, military police and Forestry Administration officials seized 40 pieces of thnong from a car on National Road 55 in Samrong commune, according to Forestry Administration official Van Savut.

“The provincial and military police were on patrol and saw cars filled with wood . . . The owner of the car had fled when we came to check the car,” said Savut, adding that the authorities had yet to identify the suspect.