Mondulkiri customs officials yesterday confiscated dozens of pieces of high-grade luxury timber, according to military police.

Sak Saraing, provincial military police chief, said customs officials confiscated about 1 cubic metre of wood and the vehicle that was transporting it in O’Raing district.

“We just helped them [custom officers] take the car and the wood, and we did not see the driver,” he said.

Though, local media had reported that the driver of the vehicle was transporting the wood to Vietnam to sell it, authorities couldn’t confirm that yesterday.

In a separate case, also in Mondulkiri, environmental officers confiscated 14 pieces of wood at the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in O’Raing district on Sunday, according to Hean Sa Khon, deputy director of the provincial environmental department.

“When our forces arrived, the suspect . . . ran away,” he said, adding authorities made a report and sent it to the provincial court.

In yet another case in O’Raing district, local media reported that on Saturday, officials confiscated 30 pieces of wood in a forest near National Road 76.