Four illegal loggers arrested in Bengkulu

BENGKULU: Police personnel and staffers working with the Bengkulu Nature Conservation Board (Bengkulu BKSDA) arrested four illegal loggers on Tuesday for felling trees in the Seblat Elephant Training Center Reserve in the province.

The head of the Bengkulu BKSDA, Agus Priambudi, said that the four people were charged with violating forestry legislation by engaging in illegal logging. They face a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted.

Agus complained that illegal logging was going ahead almost unchecked within the reserve, so that 1,000 hectares out of a total of 6,000 hectares of forest there had been deforested. -- Antara