Nantou police announced yesterday they had detained two suspects and seized 14 pieces of protected Taiwan red cypress allegedly taken through illegal logging.
Police said that officers were able to trace a suspect surnamed Chen (陳) back to his residence in Puli (埔里), where they found the 14 pieces of wood hidden in his home, that had allegedly been taken from a mountainous area in Renai Township (仁愛) over more than 10 days.
Another suspect surnamed Chang (張) was later arrested for alleged involvement in illegal logging, police added.
The 14 pieces of red cypress are worth an estimated NT$500,000 (US$16,600), police said, adding that the two suspects were charged with violations of the Forestry Act (森林法) and burglary.
The police said that because many Chinese tourists love Taiwanese woodworking and are willing to spend a lot of money on well-crafted pieces, especially treasure bowls and vases made from the coveted wood of the Taiwan cypress and red cedar, illegal loggers have increased their trade in recent years, focusing on treasured trees that are more than 1,500 years old.
In a bid to crack down on illegal logging, Nantou police have been working with the Nantou Forestry Bureau since last year in a joint task force to go deep into the mountains to crack down on illegal logging.
In related developments, the owner of the Yoho Beach Resort & Club in Pingtung’s Kenting, Tseng Chung-hsin (曾忠信), was last week released on NT$1 million bail by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office and has been barred from leaving the country.
Tainan prosecutors charged Tseng with procuring 193 trunks of cypress from illegal logging and hiding the wood at his resort.
Prosecutors said they suspected Tseng used the materials to produce woodwork sold at his resort.
Tseng denied knowing the source of the wood.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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