Thousands of Seized Illegal Logs Missing
Monday, 23 April, 2012 | 15:46 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jambi:More than 1,500 cubic meters of logs and wood blocks – all cut down illegally - and confiscated by the Jambi Province Forestry Agency in the forest area managed by the Indonesian Restoration of Ecosystems (REKI) body have gone missing. “Our security resources is limited,” A. Bestari, the Jambi Province Forestry Agency’s Forest Investigation and Security Division director, told TEMPO on Sunday.

A TEMPO investigation conducted for two days last week revealed that the thieves—allegedly illegal loggers—freely took the logs consisting mostly of Meranti wood - with a diameter of 30 to 100 centimeters, 6 to 8 meters long. The logs were then transported from the Jerat River to Lalan River at the Bayung Lincir District, Musi Banyuasin Regency, in South Sumatra.

Along Lalan River, from Lahat Village to the upstream heading to Bayathulu Village, there were thousands of illegal logs tied together in raft formation, ready to be ‘accommodated’ by brokers. There are at least 35 units of unregistered sawmills operating along the river to process the logs. “Meranti, Merbau, and Punak woods are timbered from the forest located in the borders of Jambi Province and the South Sumatra Province; they are processed and then transported to Jakarta,” said Rustam, 42, one of Bayung Village residents, Bayung Lincir District.

SYAIPUL BAKHORI