Security personnel aid timber thieves

Security personnel aid timber thieves

JAKARTA (JP): The theft and smuggling of logs in the country
is highly organized and supported by security personnel and some
officials, a top government official said.

Secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations
Suripto told journalists in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on
Saturday that the thieves equipped themselves with sophisticated
communication devices.

"The equipment is even better than that belonging to the 30th
Battalion of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad),"
Suripto said, referring to the Army unit deployed on the border
between Indonesia and Sabah in Malaysia to counter log smuggling.

Destruction of forests bordering East Kalimantan and East
Malaysia has now reached 14 kilometers into Indonesia, according
to Suripto as reported by Antara.

Suripto, a retired serviceman, said the logs were commonly
smuggled to neighboring countries like from Jambi to west
Malaysia, from West Kalimantan to Serawak, from East Kalimantan
to Sabah, and from Irian Jaya and Maluku to the People's Republic
of China.

The smugglers always manage to evade crackdowns, thanks to
information leaked by the security personnel they recruit, he
added.

Suripto was accompanying forestry and plantations minister Nur
Mahmudi Ismail, who visited Pontianak seaport to witness the
seizure of 70 containers of stolen logs, which were to be shipped
to Singapore onboard the Clover.

The ship was ordered to return to the seaport six hours after
embarking on Wednesday after students held officials at the
seaport hostage. The students resorted to the action after their
efforts to convince the officials that the ship was carrying
illegal logs failed.

"We are very proud of the students," Mahmudi said on Saturday.
He added he would award them.

Suripto said his office was trying to break the theft ring's
infrastructure, including by destroying the road built by the
group to smuggle the logs.

Meanwhile in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, spokesman for the
provincial police Lt. Col. Faah Soemarno denied Suripto's
allegation that local police were involved in the log stealing.

"It's not unfair to accuse the police and security personnel.
There are only 30 police available to watch out a span of 1,000
kilometers along the border," Faah said, adding that the ministry
and forest police were responsible for measures to prevent the
destruction of the forest near Malaysia's border.

Faah said the personnel were simply unable to prevent the
stealing, and that people suspected they allowed the thefts to go
on.

"The ministry's regional office should control the group's
operations and provide security personnel with adequate
facilities," Faah said, adding that the office had promised the
police a helicopter.(08)