Hot lumber from Sierra Madre intercepted in Quezon

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY — Authorities seized shortly before midnight on Wednesday illegally cut lumber from Sierra Madre mountain ranges in Infanta town in Quezon province, the police said.

The combined police, Army soldiers and operatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) intercepted around 11:30 p.m. a truck loaded with 30 pieces of freshly sawn “kamagong” lumber at the Marikina-Rizal-Laguna-Quezon (Marilaque) Highway in Barangay Magsaysay, the Quezon police reported on Thursday, Sept. 21.

The police seized the kamagong, which measured 607.79 board feet (1.43 cubic meters),  worth P27,350 in the underground market.

The law enforcers also arrested driver Roperto Leynes and four truck helpers after they failed to present government documents for their cargo.

Charges will be filed against Leynes for violating the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines as amended under Republic Act 7161, which prohibits the cutting of trees without a permit from DENR.

The seized vehicle and forest products, believed to have been illegally cut from the northern Quezon section of the Sierra Madre, were brought to the DENR office in Real town for disposition.

The authorities are conducting further investigation to unmask the illegal loggers behind the seized cargo.

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