Viet army truck illegally transporting precious wood from Ratanakiri to Vietnam

28 Nov. 2010
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soch

In Ratanakiri province, the illegal transportation of precious wood across the border to Vietnam is still going on unabated.

Ratha Visal, a RFA reporter, reported on Saturday 27 Nov that a group of Cambodian military police stopped a car bearing the license plate “81 B 0894” and belonging to the Vietnamese army. The vehicle is conducting a search mission for the remains of Viet soldiers who died in Ratanakiri, and it is equipped with speakers and sirens. The vehicle was transporting furniture and precious wood from Ratanakiri to Vietnam and it did not have any authorization letter at all.

An anonymous source who saw the arrest of the Viet army vehicle above, indicated that during the inspection of the vehicle by the Cambodian cops, the vehicle was full of precious wood logs and furniture made from precious wood. The capacity of that Viet army vehicle is about 10 tons.

Kim Rasmey, the commander of the military police in Ratanakiri province, declined to comment about this raid on the car. He only indicated briefly that these were minor furniture pieces only.

Nevertheless, Chhay Thy, an investigator for the Adhoc organization in Ratanakiri, said that this Viet army vehicle had transported furniture and precious wood out of Ratanakiri on many occasions already: “We can see that this is a fight against an illegal activity, this is not about purchasing furniture for personal use, but rather an illegal trade by the Viet mission.”

Rong Sok Serey, the forestry director for Ratanakiri, indicated that his department is preparing documents to impose fine on this illegal log transportation vehicle, but he did not indicate how much fine this vehicle will receive.