TURA, March 11: In a blatant display of dominance of timber smugglers in the plain belt, at least 15 timber smugglers on Friday confronted a group of GHADC foresters near Belbari Halghora, threatened them with dire consequences and later made off with a vehicle which was earlier confiscated.
Belbari is around six km from the town of Phulbari under West Garo Hills.
As per a complaint, which was filed with Phulbari Police Station by deputy ranger from Phulbari GHADC Range, a timber-laden truck was intercepted and subsequently seized during a routine patrol near Wadagokgre village.
The vehicle was carrying at least 17 fully grown timber logs, purportedly stolen from one of the state forest ranges.
When the truck was being taken to the Range Forest Office in Phulbari, around 15 smugglers blocked the road at Belbari Halghora, and confronted the GHADC forest personnel.
“They threatened us with dire consequences and snatched the keys to the car before fleeing the scene with the vehicle and the seized timber. We were outnumbered as we only had four personnel during the time. While returning, some unscrupulous people even threatened our staff near Belbari. We have reported the matter to the Police Station 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 four persons from the group, who have been identified as Zakir Hussain, Baharul Islam, Akirul Islam and Soyad Zamal.
Meanwhile, as per locals, the entire 50-km stretch between Rajabala to Tikrikilla is infamous for the presence of numerous illegal timber mills with the timber coming from the low hilly tracts near the plain belt.
Earlier, too, confrontations between the illegal smugglers and GHADC as well as state forest personnel have been reported, while no concrete action has been taken against those involved.
