Police seize shipload of illegal logs

Police seize shipload of illegal logs

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police confiscated a shipload of undocumented logs
that arrived here from Central Kalimantan, an officer revealed on
Friday.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the force had long
suspected illegal logs were being smuggled through Sunda Kelapa
Port in North Jakarta.

"The 1,070.63 cubic meters of logs were aboard the Juika Jaya
traveling from Central Kalimantan. The ship berthed at Sunda
Kelapa Port," he said.

Sunda Kelapa, the oldest port in the country, is smaller than
Tanjung Priok Port. However, it still serves medium-sized ships
carrying fish, logs and other goods.

On Nov. 1, a team from the Jakarta Police's environmental
crimes division began investigating the ship after a tip from the
City Forestry and Agriculture Agency.

"The volume of the logs was quite large. I estimate the value
of the logs is at least Rp 1 billion," the head of the
environmental crimes division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Haydar, said
on Friday.

The Jakarta Police detained the ship, confiscated the logs and
questioned several witnesses including the manager of the ship,
Jack Annil, who has been named a suspect in the case.

The forestry agency became suspicious of the ship because
Annil only had valid documents for 500.54 cubic meters of logs.

Some 874 cubic meters of the confiscated logs were meranti, a
mahogany-like wood usually used for plywood and veneer. The
remaining 196 cubic meters were from various types of wood.

Police confiscated all of the logs and transported them to the
forestry agency's wood storage yard in Pondok Pinang, South
Jakarta.

The agency, along with the Jakarta Trade Agency and the
Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, will eventually auction off the
logs.

If prosecutors pursue a case against Annil, he could be
charged under Article 50 of Law No. 41/1999 on forestry.

The article states that anyone who transports, possesses or
receives forestry products without valid documents faces a
maximum of five years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp 10
billion.

Illegal logging is a major problem in Indonesia and one that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to address during
his first 100 days in office.

Critics blame weak law enforcement for the problems. They say
numerous ships arrive at Sunda Kelapa Port carrying undocumented
logs but police and civilian investigators rarely launch serious
investigations.