Officials charged with illegal logging in NTB<\/p>\n
Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara<\/p>\n
Police here are investigating at least eight officials of the
\nCentral Lombok forestry office as suspects charged with
\ninvolvement in illegal logging in three protected forests in the
\nregency.<\/p>\n
Three of the suspects have officially been detained at the
\nWest Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police Headquarters for intensive
\nquestioning.<\/p>\n
Chief of provincial police detectives Adj. Sr. Comr. I Dewa
\nPutu Maningkajaya said the number of suspects could increase as
\nthe investigations continued.<\/p>\n
"The head of Central Lombok forestry office has yet to become
\na suspect. The suspects are those operating in the field. Other
\nsuspects will be named depending on the result of
\ninvestigations," he said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Maningkajaya did not rule out the possibility that Central
\nLombok Regent Lalu Suhaimi would be among new suspects. "The
\nregent's status will depend on the development of the
\ninvestigations. He could be questioned as a witness for the first
\ntime."<\/p>\n
The charges were laid after police in the province seized
\n3,828 logs in April, which were allegedly cut down from three
\nprotected forests in Pondok Gedang, Talun Ambon Peseng and
\nLingkuk Lima -- all in Central Lombok.<\/p>\n
The illegal logging was allegedly approved by the local
\nforestry office, which received the endorsement from the Central
\nLombon regent through Decree No. 48\/2003, dated April 1.<\/p>\n
The decree recommends the establishment of a team to manage
\nand sell logs confiscated from illegal loggers.<\/p>\n
Suhaimi denied the logs seized by the police had been cut from
\nprotected forests, instead filing a lawsuit against the NTB
\npolice chief over the charge.<\/p>\n
The police said the logging violated Law No. 41\/1999 on
\nforestry.<\/p>\n
The charges received support from head of the NTB forestry
\noffice Baderun Zainal, who confirmed that the seized logs had
\nbeen taken from the protected forests.<\/p>\n
"We just knew that the logging had taken place in the
\nprotected forests after police seized the logs," he said.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the decree issued by the Central Lombok regent,
\nZainal said it did not mention that the logging would be carried
\nout in protected forests.<\/p>\n
"A copy of the letter was sent to us. But it did not mention
\nthe precise location of the logging -- only in Central Lombok
\nregency," he added.<\/p>\n
As the regent insisted that the logging was not in violation
\nof the law, the NTB legislative council set up a special
\ncommittee to investigate the case.<\/p>\n
Syaiful Islam, who chairs the inquiry committee, threw his
\nweight behind the police move to charge the suspects.<\/p>\n
"What has been taken by the provincial police complies with
\nprevailing procedures, so it's clear that the seized logs had
\nbeen taken from protected forests," he said.<\/p>\n
He urged the regent to revoke the decree because it violated
\nLaw No. 41\/1999 on forestry.<\/p>\n
Islam made the comments after he and other members of the
\ncommittee met with the suspects, who admitted they could not
\nreject their superiors' order to fell the trees in the protected
\nforests.<\/p>\n
"Basically, they said that as subordinates, they did not dare
\nrefuse the order from their superiors who had issued the decree,"
\nIslam said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/officials-charged-with-illegal-logging-in-ntb-1447893297",
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