BANGKOK: Illegally harvested phayung logs (Siamese rosewood) worth over 6 million baht were seized from two vehicles in Khun Han district in Si Sa Ket early Tuesday morning.
A combined patrol of soldiers, police and forestry officials spotted a group of men loading logs on to a Chevrolet Captiva multi-purpose vehicle with a Bangkok licence plate and a Mitsubishi pickup truck with no licence plate near a rubber plantation in tambon Kantrom.
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As soon as they became aware of the security team the men fled in the darkness, abandoning the two vehicles loaded with the logs.
The vehicles were seized and found to contain 99 phayung logs. The illegally felled timber could fetch up to 6.7 million baht if sold abroad, officials said.
The Chevrolet was found tobe registered under the name of Paknarin Saenthaweesuk, of Det Udom district in northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, with Somporn Natesaengsri, of Muang district in Phetchabun, being the recipient of the car insurance package.
The seizure of the logs followed a tip off that timber poachers were smuggling precious logs from a forest and moving along the Khun Han-Ban Kanthrom route in Khun Han district.
