Forest guards held hostage

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)