Four held over illegal logging

FOUR people have been arrested for illegally logging in Mugmum, in Jiwaka’s North Waghi district.
Acting provincial forestry officer Yau Kiuwi said illegal logging was now a growing
concern for the Forestry Authority.
He said forestry officers could not drive into the Waghi project
area to inspect the 3,000ha plantation because the only bridge linking the area had been washed away by the Waghi River 10 years ago.
Kiuwi said K1 billion worth of kamarere (Eucalyptus deglupta) trees planted in the plantation were ready to be harvested but it would be extremely hard to transport them across the Waghi River.
He said because of the lack of inspection and monitoring, illegal loggers used portable sawing machines.
He made the comments on Friday at the Mt Hagen police station after his officers and police acted on a tip-off and arrested the four people and confiscated two trucks loaded with sawn timber taken from the Mugmum plantation.
He said illegal loggers hired locals with tyre tubes to transport their saw mills across the Waghi River to cut timber.
Kiuwi said as a result of theft from the plantations had been going on for years without any illegal loggers arrested or charged.
“This is the first time, we arrested four people transporting sawn timber from the plantation,” he said.
The forestry officer said one of the trucks was transporting timber worth K2,165.
The other truck had timber worth more than K3,000.
Western Highlands acting provincial police commander Nelson Gihigupa said the four suspects would be charged under the Forestry Act 1991, under section 124 and 125.
If found guilty, the suspects could pay of up to K100,000 or be jailed up to six years.