Nine arrested for illegal logging

JAKARTA: Police have arrested nine businessmen and confiscated trucks, boats, heavy machinery and 107,337 cubic meters of timber worth Rp 600 billion (US$66 million) in a series of raids on illegal logging operators over the past month.

The series of raids took places from Nov. 28 to Dec. 18, in East Kalimantan.

National Police Brig. Gen. Suharto said on Thursday there were other suspects in this large illegal operation.

"We have arrested nine out of a total of 27 suspects. Seven of them are businessmen, either from Indonesia and Malaysia," Suharto said.

Several Ministry of Forestry officials had also been named as suspects and were under investigation, Suharto said. -- JP