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Plot to pass illegal Thai wood off



September 24, 1997

BANGKOK POST
Plot to pass illegal Thai wood off as Burmese revealed
Chewin Sattha 
Mae Hong Son

Aquantity of illegally-processed wood is expected to be smuggled from a Thai 
forest to Burma this week, so that it can be given a permit seal before being 
shipped to Thailand.
Sources said a group of Thai timber traders had hired 10 long-tail boats from 
local people to transport some 1,200 cubic metres of processed wood from Mae 
Pai forest in Mae Hong Son to a border village of Ban Huay Dua.
The wood is expected to be sent to Burma via Ban Nam Phiang Din checkpoint by 
the end of the week.
The wood will later be stamped with a fake permit seal before being sent back 
to Thailand.
According to the sources, a logging group had earlier approached Thai police 
and military officers to help persuade local Burmese authorities to conspire 
in logging activities by hauling wood from the forest to be kept in Burma.
But the negotiations failed, as Burmese officials feared being dismissed from 
government service and asked the group to show them an official document.