Battambang provincial authorities are unable to crack down on the illegal production of an oil made from the roots of rare trees in Samlot district and have asked that a joint task force be established to stop the activity, Governor Prach Chan said Sunday.
Prach Chan said the Ministry of Environment should take immediate action against unlicensed refineries of the rare M’reah Prov tree in Samlot’s dense forests.
“I have only suggested to the Ministry of Environment to crack down on stealing of M’reah Prov oil,” Prach Chan said.
Last year, provincial authorities clamped down on illegal production, but the operations seem to have been ineffective.
“We are unable to suppress that illegal activity until a national task force [is established],” Prach Chan said, adding that helicopters would be the best transports to the area.
An estimated 100 workers produce M’reah Prov oil in Samlot district, according to a local NGO official familiar with the issue.
The NGO official, who asked not to be identified, alleged that some RCAF soldiers were involved in transporting M’reah Prov oil to Vietnam.
“M’reah Prov will be extinct someday if action is not taken,” the NGO official said.
A ton of roots and a tree’s stump can produce about 40 liters of oil.
A liter fetches $7 in Cambodia, and in Vietnam it sells at about $30 per liter, according to the NGO official.
M’reah Prov oil is used as an ingredient in food preservatives and cosmetics, and it can also be used to produce the psychoactive drug ecstasy, said Graham Shaw, program officer for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Phnom Penh.
Thuk Kroeun Vutha, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Environment, said Sunday he has yet to receive a request to form a taskforce.
Bun Seng, commander of Military Region 5, said Sunday that he was unaware of the illegal activities in Samlot district but added that RCAF soldiers are ready to join the operation if they are asked to.
M’reah Prov trees are also believed to grow in Koh Kong’s Thma Bang district.
