Timber-laden truck seized along Assam-Meghalaya border

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

KHERONI, Oct 8: A timber-laden truck was seized along the Assam-Meghalaya border. The Southern forest department of Kheroni on Tuesday seized a huge quantity of timber from the Mokro area in Assam’s Karbi Anglong (west) forest division. No one was arrested by forest officials during the operation.

The seized items include a timber-laden truck bearing the registration number DL–H 9834 that was seized on the spot under Kheroni Southern forest range office. As per sources, when the forest officials rushed to the spot, the smugglers and truck driver fled from the spot. But it is suspected that the timber was supplied from Assam to Meghalaya by timber smugglers because the forest department had seized another timber- laden truck from Mulaber of the same area on October 3 bearing the number ML 04-4910.

 “We seized a huge quantity of valuable timber from Mokro which is situated along the Assam-Meghalaya border on Tuesday night. The logs were being carried from a nearby reserve forest of West Karbi Anglong and the value of the logs will be around Rs 65,000,” said a forest official.

The forest officer added that deforestation was going on in almost all the reserve forests of the district for the last few years. As a result, forest reserves like Kheroni forest reserve, Amreng forest reserve, and Dima Hasao were on the verge of extinction.