364,000 cubic meters of illegal wood seized

JAKARTA (JP): The government confiscated 364,000 cubic meters of illegally felled wood during the past three years, a senior Ministry of Forestry official has reported.

Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Preservation Soemarsono said yesterday the ministry has auctioned 237,000 cubic meters of the confiscated wood, bringing in Rp 13 billion (US$1.44 million) in state revenues.

Soemarsono is also the chairman of the joint forest security team, a provisional government law enforcement arm that confiscated the wood.

"The team uncovered 1,526 cases (of illegal logging practices), 458 of which have been brought to court. The rest are still being processed. In most of the cases uncovered, smugglers usually used fake documents to illegally transport logs and processed wood," he said.

He declined to mention the amount of state losses caused by timber theft and smuggling.

He explained that 69,000 cubic meters of the wood confiscated was low quality wood -- categorized as mixed wood -- and would be directly transferred to the State Ministry of Public Housing for construction of low-cost housing.

Only the more expensive types of wood are publicly auctioned, he said.

"We have evidence confirming that there has been illegal transportation and selling of timber. It's a pity that several wood processing firms are also involved by buying illegal timber because its price is cheaper than legally cut timber," Soemarsono said.

He said, however, it was difficult for the government to prove that some big forest companies were involved in illegal cutting.

The joint forest security team, composed of officials from the Ministry of Forestry, the Attorney General's office, the police and the Armed Forces, was set up in 1995 under Presidential Decree No. 22/1995 to combat illegal timber trade and distribution.

The team's three-year mission will be finished on March 31.

Soemarsono said the government was considering extending the team's operational period another year due to rampant illegal timber cutting and smuggling in the country. (gas)