Acting on an anonymous tip, military police in Kompong Thom province on Monday arrested a man and a woman caught with more than 30 pieces of unlicensed luxury-grade timber in their SUV, authorities said on Tuesday.
“We immediately telephoned a court prosecutor and asked for a decision,” Baray district military police commander Khun Bunhou said.
“Then a group of our military police were deployed on the road and they stopped the car and found the wood.”
Mr. Bunhou said the pair—Kry Kim, 43, and Poeu Lihor, 45—were handed over to the Forestry Administration’s Kompong Thmar division on the same day, along with the SUV and 31 pieces of Thnong wood.
Prosecutor Ith Sothea said the pair was being held at the division’s headquarters for questioning and would be sent to the provincial court today.
Earlier this month, a U.K. NGO, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), released evidence of a large-scale illegal logging operation funneling tens of millions of dollars worth of timber from Ratanakkiri province to Vietnam.
