The head of the Forestry Administration’s Mondolkiri cantonment said Monday that he had accused one man over an August 1 incident in which military police freed the drivers of four trucks transporting illegally logged timber from the custody of anti-economic crime police and escaped with both the drivers and the trucks.
Kep Koth said he forwarded the case to the Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Monday but declined to name the suspect.
“We sent the complaint to the court this morning and we accused one person with his full name in the documents, so we should let the court work on the case,” he said. Court officials said they had yet to receive the complaint.
According to a report prepared by local authorities last week, Keo Seima district anti-economic crime police had only just stopped four trucks—loaded with first-grade Sokrom wood and headed for the Binh Phuoc Kratie Rubber 1 plantation—when they were set upon by seven armed military police officers, who left the wood behind but made off with the trucks and drivers.
Before leaving, the drivers reportedly told the anti-economic crime police that they had been transporting the wood for district military police commander Sak Saron.
Both Mr. Saron and the plantation have denied involvement in the incident.
