Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Authorities seize luxury wood in raids

Authorities seize luxury wood in raids

Illegal thnong timber sits in the trunk of a car on Friday after it was seized by authorities in Ratanakkiri province. Photo supplied
Illegal thnong timber sits in the trunk of a car on Friday after it was seized by authorities in Ratanakkiri province. Photo supplied

Authorities seize luxury wood in raids

Authorities seized about 140 pieces of high-grade thnong luxury timber in two separate busts in Ratanakkiri and Pursat provinces over the weekend.

Officials from the prosecutor’s office, Military Police and Forestry Administration in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district confiscated about 100 pieces of thnong from a rubber plantation on Friday afternoon, according to provincial deputy prosecutor Mam Vanda. The wood’s owner has yet to be identified.

“We will summon the owner of the land for questioning . . . we will ask them whether they owned the land or gave it to someone to look after,” said Vanda.

At 8pm the following evening in Pursat’s Phnom Kravanh district, military police and Forestry Administration officials seized 40 pieces of thnong from a car on National Road 55 in Samrong commune, according to Forestry Administration official Van Savut.

“The provincial and military police were on patrol and saw cars filled with wood . . . The owner of the car had fled when we came to check the car,” said Savut, adding that the authorities had yet to identify the suspect.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on