The Oddar Meanchey provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sent three suspects to the provincial court over the weekend after they were detained for illegally transporting over 14 cubic metres of second-grade timber.

In Kampong Thom, a suspect was detained for delivering 1,061kg of timber in Stung Sen district.

Oddar Meanchey provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries director Soth Sisokheang confirmed to The Post on Sunday that authorities sent three suspects to the provincial court the day before.

In Anlong Veng district, military police on Friday stopped a car delivering second-grade timber in Lomtong commune, but the driver escaped. Authorities found 10.117 cubic metres of second-grade timber.

“The owner of the car who escaped must come to solve the problem according to law. If not, I will send the case to the court to deal with,” Sisokheang said.

The same day, district military police stopped a vehicle delivering over four cubic metres of second-grade timber. They detained a driver and three passengers, he said.

In the Strung Sen district incident, Kampong Thom provincial prosecutor Sin Virak identified the suspect as Chum Tola, a 25-year old man from Baray district’s Chong Doung commune.

He was detained temporarily by the investigating judge of Kampong Thom provincial court on Friday.

“This suspect was detained temporarily for delivering timber without permission,” Virak said.

Kampong Thom provincial Forestry Administration head Bun Sothy told The Post that Tola was driving an SUV with 11 logs of timber weighing 565kg.

He had a partner driving another car, and authorities seized 10 logs weighing 496kg, but the driver escaped.