Van Ban: Confiscated nearly 2 cubic meters of pơ mu wood of unknown origin

Through verification and investigation, the authorities of Van Ban district determined that dozens of boxes of po mu wood belonging to group IIA (rare) were kept by a household in Liem Phu commune without records or papers proving their origin, so they were confiscated and handled according to the provisions of law.

29 wooden panels and 4 round po mu wooden pillars were hidden in the house by Mrs. Hoang Thi T.'s family.

On the afternoon of April 6, speaking to reporters, a representative of the Van Ban District Police said that the unit had just completed the procedures to confiscate 1.9908 ^{m3 of} po mu wood and issued a decision to administratively sanction Ms. Hoang Thi T. for the act of illegally storing forest products according to the provisions of Decree No. 35/2019/ND-CP dated April 25, 2019 of the Government on regulations on administrative sanctions in the forestry sector and amendments and supplements to Decree No. 07/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government. Accordingly, the fine is 17,500,000 VND.

Previously, at 2:00 p.m. on March 30, 2024, through information from the People, the Working Group of the District Police and the Forest Protection Department of Van Ban District conducted an inspection and discovered that in the house and warehouse of Ms. Hoang Thi T. (born in 1980), residing in Khoi Ngoa village, Liem Phu commune, Van Ban district, 29 pieces of pơ mu sawn timber with a volume of 1.083 ^m3 ; 4 other round pơ mu wooden pillars with a volume of 0.258 ^m3 ...

Immediately afterwards, the authorities coordinated with the local authorities to draw up an administrative violation record against Ms. Hoang Thi T. for the act of illegally storing forest products and temporarily detained the wood for verification and clarification. Through the verification and investigation process, Ms. Hoang Thi T. could not present documents on the origin of the wood that her family had hidden with a total volume of 1.99 ^m3.

All of the wood seized from Ms. Hoang Thi T.'s household has been transferred to a specialized warehouse for storage.

According to regulations, po mu wood is in the list of endangered, precious, and rare forest plants (group IIA), with limited exploitation for commercial purposes. The po mu population is still small in the wild and is included in the group of wood listed in the Vietnam Red Book in 1996.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/van-ban-tich-thu-gan-2-m3-go-po-mu-khong-ro-nguon-goc-post382480.html