Police in Chiayi County have arrested two garbage collectors after finding a stash of valuable wood inside their van.
Prosecutors investigating the case said they were looking to charge the pair — a 50-year-old garbage subcontractor, surnamed Lin (林), and his 40-year-old employee, surnamed Wu (吳) — with illegal logging.
A spot check by a local police patrol on Monday found Formosan cypress and Japanese cedar — estimated to be worth NT$500,000 — as well as logging tools in the suspects’ vehicle, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Police said that even before opening the doors of the van, they could smell the fragnance of the newly sawn logs and knew they were onto something.
The two men are suspected of driving to the Alishan Forest Recreation Area (阿里山森林遊樂區), which Lin has access to as a garbage-collection subcontractor for forest preserves around Alishan Township (阿里山), and illegally cutting down trees.
Officials said Lin probably thought that since Monday was a holiday — Double Ten National Day — police would not go out on patrol in the mountain districts.
Prosecutors said Lin is a resident of Alishan Township and. as a garbage subcontractor, is quite familiar with the roads and trails to protected forest preserves.
The Forestry Bureau’s Chiayi District Office confirmed that Lin works as a garbage collector for the area and has a permit to drive inside the forest.
However, the office said that the main contract for this year was awarded to a trash-collecting company headed by a businessman, surnamed Lee (李), and that Lin was a subcontractor for Lee, while Wu was an employee of Lin’s.
The office said it would send an official written request to the main contractor to replace Lin and Wu who are suspected of illegal logging.
The office added that it might terminate the contract with Lee over violations of the Forestry Act (森林法) and other laws on protecting forestry resources.
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