The Forestry Administration in Preah Vihear province on Saturday raided a remote cabin in Choam Ksan district where they found 200 pieces of illegally felled luxury wood, police said Sunday.
The 15 cubic meters of wood uncovered included the Thnong, Beng and Neang Noun varieties, and were discovered after villagers tipped off police to the cabin’s location near the foot of the Dangrek mountains, according to Noun Sokhom, provincial Forestry Administration deputy chief.
“We checked the house after receiving a provincial court warrant on Saturday morning and discovered the timber,” he said.
“We transported the timber to the district Forestry Administration office, and now we are investigating to find the timber’s owner in order to bring them to justice,” he added.
In a separate case in Stung Treng province, the local Forestry Administration found thousands of pieces of illegally logged wood on an economic land concession in Sesan district’s Srekor commune on Friday.
Sith Samnang, chief of Stung Treng City Forestry Administration, said his officers had found the wood buried on land belonging to Siv Gueck Investment Co. Ltd., but was not sure the wood actually belonged to that company.
“We found thousands of pieces of timber and used two excavators to dig it out of the ground,” he said. “We are now looking for who is responsible.”
Hou Sam Ol, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the authorities had dug 10 holes and uncovered 10,000 pieces of wood—or about 1,000 cubic meters.
