23 January 2008
Maputo — Seven ten tonne trucks, each loaded to capacity with logs, were seized by the Mozambican police in the district of Meconta, in the northern province of Nampula, on Saturday for transporting illegally felled precious hardwoods for export.
According to a report in the Beira daily "Diario de Mocambique", the seizure took place in the town of Namialo as the trucks were heading for Nacala port, where the logs were to be loaded into containers and exported.
The Nampula Provincial Director of Agriculture, Jose Varimelo, told reporters that the trucks had tarpaulin covers to conceal the product, a procedure lately used by illegal operators in the timber business in Nampula.
He explained that his institution learnt of this illegality through a denunciation by an anonymous informant, and he immediately sent a team into the field to investigate.
Varimelo added that most timber operators in Nampula have been choosing to exploit ironwood, a species which, unlike most hardwoods, can still legally be exported as unprocessed logs. However, the seven trucks were exporting ironwood illegally because the quota of 100 cubic metres for this species for Nampula has long been filled
Varimelo said that the seized product and the trucks will remain under police custody until the owners pay the heavy fines imposed on them. He did not reveal the exact amount of the fines.
This case follows the seizure in September of some 750 containers loaded with illegal timber, seized in Nacala port shortly before they were to be exported to China. The representatives of the eight Chinese companies involved subsequently disappeared without paying the fines, or the fees for hiring the containers.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
