Police set up illegal logging investigation
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police have established an interdepartmental team in an attempt to curb rampant illegal logging in Papua and hunt down 19 people suspected of financing the activity.
A National Police spokesman, Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo, said on Wednesday the team would comprise 1,500 officers from the police, the Ministry of Forestry and the Attorney's General Office (AGO),
"Based on our investigations and the sharing of information over the last two weeks, we have identified possible suspects whom we believe have been financing the operation. We hope the results of this investigation can help the team focus on the targets," Aryanto said.
The team would concentrate on illegal logging in Papua due to large-scale timber smuggling to China from the province recently.
"We will send the team to Papua as soon as possible," Aryanto said, while not revealing any further details.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar on Feb. 22 to lead a coordinated crackdown on illegal loggers.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and local non- governmental organization Telapak found in a recent study that 2.3 million cubic meters of Indonesian timber was smuggled onto the Chinese market last year.
The Ministry of Forestry and the AGO have listed a total of 19 people who are alleged to be involved in financing illegal logging and smuggling operations in the country's easternmost province.
However, according to Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh, the whereabouts of only four or five of them were known.
Critics have slammed the police for being slow in tracking down the suspects, saying they had probably fled the country after the police set up the illegal logging investigation team.
Aryanto said that the police had failed to arrest any new suspects since the capture of three people in Papua last January.
At that time, the Papuan police arrested a Malaysian national, Tan Thian Seng, and two Indonesian citizens -- Stevanus Sobat and Alexander Lois Windesi -- for shipping illegal timber from Papua to East Java.
Both Susilo and Da'i acknowledged that several police and military officers were involved in the illegal felling and smuggling of logs, but no officers have been arrested to date.
The government has allocated Rp 12 billion (US$1.3 million) out of the state budget to fund the team's operations, with no deadline having been set for the team to complete its investigations.
The police had previously asked for Rp 48 billion to finance six operations against illegal logging nationwide.