Four large trucks from Siv Guek Investment Company have been impounded by authorities in Ratanakkiri province since Friday under suspicion they were transporting illegal quantities of first-grade timber.

The timber originated in Stung Treng province, where the company has an economic land concession, and was destined for Prey Veng and Phnom Penh, according to Se Sen, Trapaing Kraham commune police chief.

“Forestry experts said the timber was loaded over what the law permitted. They loaded too much wood. Each truck carried not less than 20 to 30 cubic metres,” Sen said yesterday, without specifying the legal limit.

He added the timber had been cut and wrapped for hauling.

The provincial deputy prosecutor in charge of the case, Rar Borandy, said company representatives will assist authorities in inspecting and measuring the wood and that the process should be completed soon.

Keb Kot, provincial Forestry Administration director, said his team has only managed to measure one truck’s worth of wood since Friday.

A representative from the company confirmed the case, but declined to comment.

The company, granted an economic land concession in Stung Treng in 2006, has had previous run-ins with the law in relation to alleged forestry crimes. In 2014, authorities discovered hundreds of pieces of illegal luxury timber buried on the company’s land in Stung Treng. No arrests were made.