Forest guards held hostage

SEMARANG: Four forest guards are being held hostage and a patrol car was vandalized when 200 residents of Karangbendum village in the Cilacap regency looted timber in a nearby forest.

Chief of forest guards, Pamuji, said on Wednesday negotiations to ask for the release of his staff were underway.

He said the mob was involved in a one-sided clash with 10 of his staff, who tried to prevent the residents from felling teakwood trees in the forest.

No fatalities or injuries were reported in the incident, but the looters ran away with 1,000 logs loaded in trucks, taking the staff members as hostage.

Pamuji said the timber theft had been rampant for quite some time and the looters had become more brutal.

"We have a hard time stopping them due to the lack of forest guards here," he said. (har/edt)