Despite a recent military crackdown, illegal logging in western provinces along the Thai-Cambodian border continues unabated, said an official who attended a government strategy meeting Wednesday on how to stop the practice.
Khov Meng Heang, secretary of state at the Ministry of Parliamentary Relations and Inspection, said illegal loggers based on the Thai side of the border are still moving into Pursat, Koh Kong and Battambang provinces for short periods of time to cut trees and haul them back to Thailand.
Government officials belonging to a committee to prevent illegal logging met at the Ministry of Defense Wednesday to come up with ways to stop the illegal logging.
“This is a difficult task. Thai loggers can easily run away and cross back into their country since they are logging only a short distance from the border,” Khov Menh Heang said.
It is difficult for RCAF soldiers and military police to find and stop the loggers because the area has no roads, he said.
The meeting also looked into ways to root out and crack down on Cambodian government officials who may be helping the Thai illegal loggers.
When asked if RCAF officers and government officials are also helping the Thais, an RCAF general, who asked not to be named, replied that he believed “some officials” are involved.
“If no people inside the border give them help, then they would not be able to do what they do,” he said.
Another problem is that poor Cambodian villagers who live near the border are providing assistance to the loggers, according to the same general.
“I hope that we will find out who the people are who are involved,” Khov Menh Heang said. “We are looking for the leader of the Thai loggers who were arrested last week.”
Recent raids in Koh Kong and Pursat provinces have netted 23 illegal logging suspects. Fifteen of the suspects are Thai, seven are Cambodian and one is Vietnamese.
Earlier this week, the suspects were formally charged in Phnom Penh Municipal Court with destruction of state property and unlicensed transport of forest byproducts.
Nineteen of the suspects were caught last week at a site 10 km from the Thai border by military paratroopers belonging to the elite 911 unit.
A few suspects were able to escape to the Thai side of the border, officials said.
A total of 150 paratroopers and 150 military police were brought to the border area from Phnom Penh to conduct a weeklong crackdown.
One investigator said he believed that some soldiers were behind the illegal logging operations.
RCAF General Chea Dara, commander of last week’s operations, said Wednesday that those investigations and patrols are continuing.
