Vietnamese police raid timber warehouses near Cambodia border
Hundreds of police officers and forest rangers have raided large timber warehouses, including illegal ones, in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, Tuoi Tre newspaper has reported.
The officers on police trucks came into the warehouses and then blocked entry while they inspected the timber.
Most of the warehouses served as destinations for hundreds of cubic meters of timber transported from border areas near Cambodia.
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| A timber warehouse belonging to Bao Hoang Company in Gia Lai Province. Photo credit: Tuoi Tre |
Gia Lai’s police and forest protection authorities said they were ordered by the Ministry of Public Security to join the raid just minutes before it happened.
“We were asked to cooperate with the central police to inspect the timber warehouses,” an official with the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development told Tuoi Tre.
He refused to reveal details of the raid, saying police are still working on the case.
The provincial Party unit’s internal affairs division said the raid was made after a large amount of timber was transported from Cambodia to Vietnam, following the provincial government’s decision to allow timber transport through small border gates.