BAYUGAN CITY – Police seized illegally cut lumber worth P175,866 in an anti-illegal logging operation in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur on Saturday, August 27.
Acting on a report from a concerned citizen, the 1304th Maneuver Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion-13, Sibagat Municipal Police Station, and DENR-Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) here discovered a wing van loaded with 655 pieces of Lauan lumber totaling 8,793.33 board feet.
Final scaling is underway and follow-up operation is being conducted the driver of the truck and the owner who evaded arrest.
Meanwhile, PRO-13 Director Police Brig. Gen. Kirby John B. Kraft on Monday, August 28, disclosed that the intensified campaign against illegal logging led to the confiscation of 11,001.73 board feet of illegally cut forest products with a total market value of P250,398 from August 20 to present.
“We have been intensifying our efforts on forest protection through regular conduct of tree-planting activities and anti-illegal logging operations,” Kraft said.
“With our recent confiscations and apprehensions, we hope to send a strong message to illegal loggers that we will deal with them with the full force of the law.”