Samples of seized, Illegally cut coconut lumber in Quezon (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON)
LUCENA CITY,Quezon – Police on Saturday arrested three suspected illegal coconut lumber traders and seized undocumented coconut lumber in Sampaloc and Lucban towns, police said Sunday.
Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Quezon police provincial director, said Lucban policemen arrested Jimmy Arban, Arnold Suazo and a minor with the alias “June,” who were caught in the act of loading 900 pieces of undocumented coconut lumber of different sizes in a passenger jeepney along the diversion road in Barangay Kulapi 11:30 p.m.
In Sampaloc town, operatives recovered 148 pieces of sawn coconut lumber that were left abandoned in Barangay Bilucao in Sampaloc town around 9 p.m. Police said the stack of illegal coconut lumber measuring 1,000 board feet was reported by Corazon Cuestas, a member of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) monitoring and inspection team. SFM/rga