Hanoi – Cambodia has asked Interpol to investigate Vietnam after accusing its neighbor of knowingly accepting fraudulent permits for rare, illegally logged rosewood timber for transport across their shared border.
Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) is one of the most valuable species of tree in the world to timber criminals. A single cubic meter can sell for as much as $5,000 in Cambodia, although that amount goes up significantly once it’s smuggled into Vietnam or China. The potential illegal profits are tantalizing: a single, ornately carved bedpost has been known to sell for as much as $1 million in Shanghai.
Read the full story: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cambodia-accuses-vietnam-of-complicity-in-illegal-cross-border-logging/
