Law enforcement authorities yesterday said they have arrested 10 people suspected of illegal logging after finding sawn-off blocks of valuable trees and working tools at their camps in the mountains of Chiayi County.
The 10 were taken to the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning, with a man surnamed Yeh (葉), 27, suspected of being the leader of the illegal logging operation. Yeh and three other suspects were denied bail and placed in detention.
Prosecutor Lee Peng-cheng (李鵬程) headed the investigation, working in coordination with the National Police Agency’s Seventh Special Police Corps and other law enforcement units to carry out the arrests at the camps and other locations in the county’s mountainous areas.
Photo: CNA
Lee and other officers put on display 20 wood blocks, three tree burrs and two vehicles allegedly used to transport the cut-off timber sections from the mountain areas to meet buyers.
The wood blocks were cut from valuable and protected species, including Taiwanese cypress, Formosan red crypress and Taiwanese yellow cedar, Lee said, adding that the total loot weighed about 113kg and would have fetched an estimated NT$3 million (US$101,502) on the black market.
Lee said Yeh and his father were in charge of a group of “mountain rats” (山老鼠) — a criminal ring that puts up camps and temporary shelters in mountainous areas to illegally cut trees or poach wild animals, including endangered species, or engage in other illegal activities that cause environmental damage.
Yeh and his father also hired undocumented Vietnamese workers who had skipped their contracts and taken on jobs in the underground economy, Lee said, after questioning two Vietnamese, surnamed Nguyen and Vo, who were among the 10 people arrested.
Lee credited the arrests to the Seventh Special Police Corps, which had been investigating the case for more than five months, conducting surveillance, following up on tips and leads, and tracking and monitoring the group’s movements around Alishan (阿里山) and the restricted hiking trail of Mianyue (眠月線), an abandoned, dilapidated railway line dating back to the Japanese colonial era.
“We must not allow these ‘mountain rats’ to destroy the forests, which are treasures that belong to all citizens,” Lee said.
“It is important for police and civilians in these areas to work together and cooperate to protect our forests and mountains from destruction,” he added.
People are urged to contact local police agencies if they encounter or observe suspicious people or activities in the mountains to stop illegal logging, he said.
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