Passage of illegal timber intercepted

Passage of illegal timber intercepted

BATAM, Riau Islands: Police officers have intercepted a tugboat
and a ship carrying 94 containers of processed timber in Karimun
Kecil waters, Karimun in the Riau Islands.

The ships and crew were apprehended on Sunday for transporting
timber without the proper documentation, said Riau Islands Police
chief of detectives Adj. Sr. Comr. Wawan Irawan.

It is believed that most of the containers and their contents
belonged to a cooperative run by the Wirabima Resort Military
Command based in Pekanbaru, Riau. Other containers belonged to
eight local private companies.

Marianto, a crew member, said he and eight other men working
on the ship were unaware of the containers' contents. He said he
was only told by his boss to transport the containers to
Singapore. -- JP