Authorities in Ratanakkiri province on Saturday raided a timber processing facility in Banlung city, confiscating 136 logs of first-grade timber and 540kg of luxury timber as the owner managed to evade arrest.

Provincial military police commander Thav Yen said on Monday that deputy prosecutor Leang Ou led city military police and provincial forestry administration officials to raid the facility.

He noted that the owner must have got wind of the operation and fled before they arrived. The evidence seized was impounded at the forestry administration office.

“We implemented the law and forestry administration officials will take further action in the case,” he said.

Provincial forestry administration director Keb Kort said his officials had yet to file a report.

In a separate case, joint forces in Stung Treng province last week inspected two timber processing facilities in Stung Treng city on suspicion that the sites were operating without permission.

Director of the Stung Treng Provincial Agriculture Department Lieng Seng said on Monday that the owner of the sites has not yet been located.

He said forestry administration officers are sorting through piles of timber found at the sites to be documented.

“We do not yet know the amount of timber they have as forestry administration officers are still measuring it. When we complete the measuring, we will look for permission letters and if they don’t have them, we will close the operations.

“If they have permission letters, we will allow them to operate with some additional conditions,” he said.

Provincial military police commander Eang Vandy declined to comment on the case but told local media that as the chief of provincial National Committee for Forest Crime Prevention, he will continue to examine timber facilities suspected of operating illegally.