19 TRUCKS WITH ILLEGAL LUMBER IMPOUNDED (SPREAD)

NINETEEN trucks with full loads of lumber suspected to have been illegally obtained from forest areas in the Eastern Region have been impounded by a joint police/military operation in the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District.
The lumber, believed to have been brought from the Atiwa Forest Reserve and others in the Fanteakwa and the Kwaebibirem districts, as well as the East Akyem Municipality, were seized at the Suhum Chainsaw Lumber Market on Saturday and Sunday.
They were about to be conveyed to the various wood markets, mostly in Accra when the Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), accompanied by the police and the military, carried out a swoop on the lumber market.
The trucks, most of which had no registration number plates, were reportedly abandoned by the drivers and their mates on seeing the security presence in the area. The trucks wre driven to the Eastern Regional Police headquarters in Koforidua by the police/millarty team.
Reports indicate that during the operation at the market, some individuals who came forward to prevent the confiscation of the lumber attempted to bribe the security personnel with GH¢10,000, but they turned down the offer.
Briefing newsmen on the incident at a press conference in Koforidua yesterday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, the REGSEC received intelligence report that some trucks loaded with lumber had parked at Suhum, ready to be moved to various destinations, especially Accra.
Based on the information received, he and other security members, including the Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Stephen Andoh-Kwofie, the regional BNI commander and the CID officer, as well as some military and police personnel, moved to Suhum, where they found the 19 trucks loaded with the lumber.
He noted that the nation’s environment, mostly the forest covers, were being degraded by the activities of some “group of organised mafias in the wood industry, who did not care about the repercussions of their action on the ecology and the entire population”.
He called on the owners of the trucks and the lumber to assist the police to conduct investigations to determine the source of the lumber.
The minister said “the right thing must be done, and I, therefore, entreat the owners of the truck and the lumber to contact the task force or the Eastern Regional Forestry Commission office to identify their trucks and prove that they have permits to deal in lumber,”.
The regional minister commended the security personnel for their braveness in confronting illegal chainsaw activities, saying “we must duly reward them to motivate them to show commitment in the fight against illegal lumbering in the country”.
“Until we design plans to recognise and motivate our security task force for the good work they are doing, all our commitment to stop illegal lumbering in the country may not yield any positive outcome,” Mr Ampofo stated.
He, however, appealed to security men aiding individuals and syndicate engaged in illegal lumbering to refrain from such act, adding that “the law must deal harshly with those found guilty”.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Henry Ford Kamel, said as part of measures to check illegal chainsaw operation in the country, a number of task force committees had been set up at the national, regional and district levels across the country.
Additionally, he indicated, the government, in partnership with the security agencies, had intensified highway patrols in forest areas in the country to fight the menace.