The forestry police search request to the Police Department
identifies
the firm as Ska Bee, located in Mae Sariang district.
Police recently found 200 large illegaly-cut teak logs,
from trees
nearly a century old, in Salween National Park and Salween
Wildlife
Sanctuary in Mae Hong Son province.
The two forests have a combined area of more than 100,000
rai, and
comprise one of the largest teak sources in the country.
About 70 per
cent of the trees are teak.
A police report obtained by The Nation indicates that a
lot more
timber has been cut from nearby forests around Mae Sakerd,
Mae Sob
Ngae and Jor Tha villages. The areas are currently inaccessible,
according to the report.
Police reported many logging tracks where timber could
be taken out of
the forests.
The Royal Forestry Department (RFD) admitted yesterday
that illegal
logging was possible in the area because senior forestry
officials in
the province have been bribed by logging companies.
Director-General Sathit Sawintorn said he will soon transfer
the
superintendent of the Salween Wildlife Sanctuary, Udom
Thanathitaporn.
The chief of the Salween National Park, Jaen Thafong,
was transferred
last week.
''I personally received information that some logging companies
paid
bribes to our officials."
''I will soon transfer the chief of the wildlife sanctuary
out of the
area to make it easier for the investigation team to find
evidence,"
he said.
However, Sathit said the officials were presumed innocent
as no
evidence of them receiving money from logging companies
had been
found.
''We must be fair to them," he said.
The manager of Vit P Vanitkul Co, which was reportedly
sub-contracted
by Ska Bee to transfer timber from Burma into Thailand,
was not
available for comment yesterday. He had reportedly gone
to Burma.
Since November, forestry police have found or know the
location of
more than 2,000 illegally cut teak logs, including those
suspected to
be in the Ska Bee warehouse.
The warehouse and a furniture factory operated by an unidentified
company are located only a few kilometres from the headquarters
of the
national park.
The logs are reportedly harvested illegally in Thailand,
shipped
across the Salween River to Burma, stamped as being of
''Burmese
origin" and then ''imported" by Thai companies through
three custom
checkpoints near Baan Mae Sam Lab, Baan Mae Kodtafang
and Baan Sao
Hin in Mae Sarieng district.
The timber eventually makes its way to Bangkok, the police
report
said.
A source in the Forestry Police Division said there was
another
illegal logging operation in the same area run by Karen
villagers.
They float the logs down the river to docks near the wildlife
sanctuary, where they are auctioned to traders.
''Most of the cutting occurs in the rainy season between
August and
January. The heavy rainfall makes it difficult for police
to reach the
area," he added.
In a memorandum to its superintendent, the forestry police
investigation team reported that Ska Bee made a contract
in 1985 with
the Timber Corporation of Burma to buy about 6,070 teak
logs worth
about Bt75 million.
The first shipment of 618 logs was confiscated by police
for allegedly
having false certificates of origin.
But in 1991, the Central Revenue Court ruled the 618 logs
should be
returned to the company.
The police report said Ska Bee recently sought permission
to bring the
remainder of the contracted timber into the Kingdom.
''If the timber [in the company's warehouse] is teak cut
from the
neighbouring country, the logs must be old and have the
stamps of
state officials of that country on them.
''The size and volume of the timber must match the record book.
''If the company fails to