Police nab illegal loggers

Police nab illegal loggers

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Papua Police have captured three suspects along with a barge full
of smuggled timber in the Naramasa waters near Manokwari, the
National Police say.

A police spokesman, Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis, said on Monday
the seizure took place late last month, but was reported by
Papuan Police chief Insp. Gen. Dody Sumantiawan only recently.

He did not give a reason why the case had not been made public
earlier.

"The Papuan Police intercepted the boat, bearing the name
SMB3, in Naramasa waters on Jan. 27. The barge was found laden
with 639 logs of Merbau wood, a total volume of about 2,123 cubic
meters," Lubis said.

He said that the barge, towed by a tugboat, was on its way to
Gresik, near the East Java capital of Surabaya, to meet the
buyers.

"The police found no any documents whatsoever aboard the
vessel, that is why the Papuan police decided to confiscate the
timber and detained the ship along with its captain," Lubis said.

Police have named three suspects in this case, one a Malaysian
national, Tan Thian Seng, who is allegedly financing the massive
illegal logging operation. The other two -- identified as
Stevanus Sobat and Alexander Lois Windesi -- are Indonesian
citizens who are accused of running the smuggling venture.

The three were arrested on Feb. 3 in Manokwari.

The owner of the tugboat, Efendi Maksud, and two alleged
buyers, Kuriasin Kacong and David Rekideso, along with eight
other people aboard the tug, were still being questioned by
police, he said.

However, Lubis said he had no evidence the suspects were
connected with the huge smuggling racket recently exposed by
environmental investigators. Evidence by two non-governmental
organizations -- the British-based Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) and the Indonesian environmental group Telapak --
say Malaysian businessmen along with Chinese and Hong Kong
companies cooperate with the Indonesian Military and government
officials to regularly ship 300,000 cubic meters of Merbau timber
a month to China.

"We're still investigating whether Tan is related to the
(activist-exposed) smuggling ring. Most of the suspects in many
recent cases have been Malaysian citizens," Lubis said.

Lubis said he was sure police or the military were not
involved in this case.

Merbau timber is one of the most valuable species in Southeast
Asia, but Papuan communities get only about US$10 a cubic meter
for chopping the trees down. It is sold for around $270 a cubic
meter in China, where it is used for furniture and flooring.

"We don't know whether the police and the military are
involved in other cases, but they are certainly not in this case.
We have to look at one case at a time to find out," Lubis said.