Log theft cases settled secretly

BENGKULU, Bengkulu: Head of the Prosecutors Office TN Syamsah said yesterday he suspected many of the log theft cases here have been resolved out of court by the culprits and corrupt officials.

Syamsah said illegal practices have increased the rate of log theft to an alarming point.

"I don't know why. Either security or law enforcing officials should unravel this trend," he complained.

Citing an example of the many dark cases this year, he said he had never seen dossiers on three people identified as Sr, SW and Msn who, in separate incidents, were caught red-handed stealing more than 15 cubic-meters of logs last June.

"I don't know the whereabouts of the logs now. The police have not sent me their reports on these cases," Syamsah said. (amd)