Chiang Mai: Officials from Sri Lanna National Park arrested two men who were illegally cutting rosewood in the Ban Huai Pong area, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province, along with evidence of eight large rosewood boards.
According to Thai News Agency, officials from Sri Lanna National Park intercepted a suspicious pickup truck that had been driving out of the forest in Ban Huai Pong, Village 4, Ping Kong Subdistrict, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province. During the search, two men were found and protected wood was loaded into the back of the pickup truck, which was 8 large rosewood sheets. The two criminals took the opportunity at night to smuggle the wood to deliver to a capitalist in Ban Wang Chom, Chiang Dao District, and were paid 1,000 baht per trip.
The park officials have arrested the two suspects along with the evidence and sent them to the Chiang Dao Police Station investigators, and will continue the investigation to find the financiers behind the incident.
For the Chiang Dao District area, it is considered to have abundant protected forests, which makes capitalists hire villagers to go in and illegally cut protected trees, including rosewood and teak, to sell to capitalists to make furniture in large quantities.