Ebony smuggling go on in Sulawesi

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Central Selawesi Governor H.B. Paliudju lamented yesterday that between 5,000 and 10,000 cubic meters of ebony are smuggled out of the province each year.

"Most of the illegal ebony which gets out of the country is smuggled to Sabah, East Malaysia," he said during a hearing with the provincial legislative council yesterday.

The head of the province's forestry office, Kasman, said that since 1989 the government has prohibited the logging of ebony trees. Kasman believes the current batch being smuggled out is from an old stockpile.

According to Antara, ebony has become a highly valuable commodity with a cubic meter costing about US$20,000. (mds)