Ship with illegal logs nabbed

Hasrul, The Jakarta Post, Kendari

Southeast Sulawesi water police personnel have apprehended a ship loaded with thousands of undocumented logs in Wangi-wangi waters, Wakatobi regency.

The ship was on its way from Sorong, Papua to Semarang, Central Java, when it was nabbed on Friday, said Sr. Comr. Sistomo, the chief of Water Police Division of Southeast Sulawesi provincial police.

Agustinus, the ship's captain, recalled that he chose to anchor in the waters, after the ship's logistics ran out. Unfortunately, water police personnel approached the ship and ordered the captain to show its documents. After inspecting the documents, police personnel discovered that the documents had expired, said Sistomo.

The police also checked the total number of logs on the documents which were different to the ones that were on board the ship.

Due to the irregularities, police officers allegedly accused the ship's captain and the owner, Kew Ju Lie, for forging the documents and for violating Law No. 41/1999 on forestry, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

During the arrest on Friday, Kew initially denied that he owned the logs. He even purported that he was merely a technician on the ship and claimed that the owner was somewhere else.

But, after police investigation, Kew finally admitted that he owned the logs and that he was responsible for the shipment of the logs.

The ship and logs have been brought to Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi, for further investigation. Kew and Agustinus have been detained by the police for further questioning.

In other cases over the past two months, water police officers in Cirebon, West Java and Kediri, East Java, have apprehended thousands of other undocumented logs being shipped from Sorong to Java.

The shipping of illegal logs is apparently rampant with a Cirebon councillor, Suryana, complaining recently that every month at least 60 ships, mostly from Kalimantan, loaded and unloaded illegal logs at the Cirebon port. This means that over 2,000 ships have entered Cirebon with illegal logs over the past three years, he said.

Suryana accused certain government and security officials of providing support to the criminal activity, which he said cost the state up to Rp 130 billion (US$14.4 million).