Illegal timber racket bared

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

A massive racket involving the felling of valuable tress worth millions of rupees in a State Forest Reservation was bared following the arrest of a millionaire businessman and his employee last week, by the Police Special Task Force (STF) and the Central Anti Vice Striking Unit, (CAVSU) police sources told the Sunday Observer.

Illegally felled timber logs worth thousands of rupees were discovered at the Nawalakanda and Delgoda State Forest Reservation. The suspect businessman who owns around 400 acres of land adjacent to the State Reservation at Delgoda and Nawalakanda is linked to the timber racket through which he is believed to have amassed a fortune, police said. The timber poachers had even built a 14-mile path inside the State reservation at Delgoda to ferry timber logs from the jungle. Forest officers from Kalawana have certified that the felled timber belonged to the State forest reservation.

The STF and CAVSU teams were led by ASP Hadji and OIC CAVSU, Inspector Duminda Balasuriya on a directive by IGP Mahinda Balasuriya to stop illicit timber poaching in the area.