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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.