Tura, Mar 11: In an act showing the extent to which timber smugglers in the plain belt have been emboldened, at least 15 timber smugglers yesterday, Mar 9, surrounded a group of foresters near Belbari Halghora before threatening them with dire consequences and later making off with the vehicle that had been seized.
An FIR into the incident has been lodged at the Phulbari PS as the place of occurrence falls under the jurisdiction of the PS itself under West Garo Hills.
As per locals, the entire stretch between Rajabala to Tikrikilla, more than 50 kms across has been notorious due to the presence of 100s of illegal timber mills with the timber coming from the low hilly tracts near the plain belt. Earlier too confrontations between GHADC and state forest personnel, which have been trying to ensure the preservation of forests in the area and the illegal smugglers have been reported though despite the lawlessness of it all, no concrete action has been taken against those involved,
Belbari is just about 6 kms from the town of Phulbari under West Garo Hills district.
As per the FIR filed by the deputy ranger from the Phulbari GHADC range, the timber truck in question was caught during routine patrolling near the village of Wadagokgre, in the same district. The vehicle was then being taken to the range forest office in Phulbari, when about 15 smugglers blocked the road that the foresters were using to transport at Belbari Halghora.
The vehicle was carrying at least 17 fully grown timber logs, purportedly stolen from one of the state forest ranges.
“They threatened us with dire consequences and snatched the keys to the car before fleeing from the scene with the vehicle and the seized timber. We were outnumbered as we only had 4 personnel during the time. While returning some unscrupulous people even threatened our staff near Belbari. We have reported the matter to the PS and are awaiting action against those that threatened and forcefully took away the logs,” informed the Phulbari ranger of GHADC.
The forest personnel were able to identify at least 4 from the group. They have been named in the FIR as Zakir Hussain, Baharul Islam, Akirul Islam, Soyad Zamal among others.