LUCENA CITY—Police seized a truck loaded with illegally cut coconut lumber in Buenavista town in Quezon province before midnight Sunday, police said Monday.
The Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) police citing a report from the Buenavista police, said operatives manning a checkpoint flagged down an Isuzu 10-wheeler truck at the town proper around 10:30 p.m.
The cops found the truck loaded with about 10,000 board feet (23.59 cubic meters) of newly sawn coconut lumber.
The truck passengers, Domingo Caingan, Roberto De Villa, and Leodegario Santander, failed to produce documents from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), giving them authority to cut and transport the coconut lumber, which prompted the authorities to confiscate the hot lumber and the truck.
The confiscated hot lumber is estimated to be worth P170,000 in the underground market.
Under the Coconut Preservation Act of 1995, the cutting of coconut trees is prohibited unless a permit is secured at the local PCA office.
All suspects were detained in Buenavista police jail.