Military police in Stung Treng province arrested the drivers of two vans carrying a combined 50 lengths of illegally logged luxury wood following an hourlong chase through Siem Bok district on Monday night.
The vans were finally stopped on National Road 7 at about 9:40 p.m. by military police from Siem Bok’s Office 722, who pursued the vehicles from Stung Treng City after receiving a tip that the drivers were transporting the wood toward the Vietnamese border, according to Office 722 chief Seng Sopheap.
Mr. Sopheap said the drivers—whom he refused to identify—were apprehended and taken to the provincial military police headquarters for questioning while forestry officials inspected the vans. Inside, he said, they found a total of 50 planks of luxury-grade Thnong.
“We arrested them because they were transporting illegal luxury timber,” Mr. Sopheap said.
“They brought the Thnong wood from Siem Pang district and planned to transport it across the border to Vietnam,” he said, adding that the wood was being kept at the headquarters of the Forestry Administration’s Stung Treng cantonment.
