Thai authorities foil logs smuggling

BANGKOK, August 24 (TNA) - Siamese rosewood logs, worth at least 50 million baht, have been seized by Thai authorities in the northeastern Nakhon Phanom Province along the Mekong River, before being smuggled to an overseas market, expected to be China. The authorities reported on Friday that the 40 rosewood logs, 2-3 metres long each, have recently been seized in Nakhon Phanom’s Tah Uthen, Baan Pang and Srisongkram Districts, after found hidden near the Mekong River. The Thai authorities said that they initially assumed the timbers would be smuggled to China, where market demand for the Siamese rosewood has remained high, and that the value of the seized logs was expected to leap to several millions baht if they were successfully smuggled out of Thailand. According to the Thai authorities, an approximate 10,000 logs have been confiscated since early 2012 and Nakhon Phanom's forest office has worked closely with relevant agencies to suppress log smugglings and to set up a team to watch out the illegal activity around the clock. (TNA)