"The quantity continues to increase. So far, we have confiscated more than 450 tons of wood," commander of the task force Brig. Gen. Pribadi Agus Irianto said.Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Riau haze mitigation task force has seized more than 450 tons of illegal wood during a crackdown on encroachers at the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu biosphere reserve in Riau province.
"The quantity continues to increase. So far, we have confiscated more than 450 tons of wood," commander of the task force Brig. Gen. Pribadi Agus Irianto stated on Wednesday.
Agus noted that the encroachment of the biosphere reserve came to light after the Indonesian Army deployed its special troops there shortly after the province was put under a haze emergency status on February 26.
"We found 39 illegal logging camps there," he pointed out.
He elaborated that part of the wood was seized as evidence and the rest was destroyed.
"We directly destroyed it," he explained.
In the crackdown, the task force also arrested dozens of suspected encroachers including Army Sergeant Major Sudigdo who acted as a financier in the illegal logging, Agus observed.
The task force also arrested "old player", Abi Besok, who is now being held in police custody, he remarked.
The Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu biosphere reserve, which is located in Siak and Bengkalis districts covers an area of 700 thousand hectares.
The timber company Sinar Mas Forestry proposed the creation of the biosphere reserve in 2009. The reserve was later declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.
The reserve is home to an estimated 189 species of plants, 29 of which are classified as endangered under CITES. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
