Loggers in Prey Lang forest are under scrutiny once again, after a 21-year-old man was charged with illegally clearing and occupying state-owned land.

Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday put suspect Ven Nak of Sandan district’s Dang Kambet commune under pre-trial detention, said Khin Vannak, a deputy forestry administrative chief in Sandan district.

“The suspect was changed and detained for further investigation,” he said.

Nak’s whole family is alleged to have logged the forest; however, only he was charged, as his father has a disability, according to Tain Sophany, a forestry official in the district.

Vannak added that the suspect was apprehended on Saturday in a crackdown on logging in the forest.

“The state gave them the land but they did not try to cultivate crops, they cleared the land to sell the wood instead,” Sophany said.

Chhim Savuth, project coordinator at the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, said that about 100 cubic metres of luxury logs were discovered floating down the Stung Sen River in Sandan district last month.

But Sophany said the logs were cut legally.