APAMO is throwing some shade towards the Forestry Department tonight - and we don't mean the "sub umbra floreo" type. They say that 6 men - including a police corporal - were caught hustling illegally cut logs, but Forestry only charged 3.
The whole thing started back in May when the Park Rangers at the Mayflower Bocawina National Park busted a major illegal logging operation within the National Park and Sittee Forest Reserve. 40 trees had already been felled and were being prepared to be extracted.
The men found at the location were arrested and charged, and the matter is currently before the Court. But, the 40 illegal logs were never removed and outlaws started to move them. So, on last week Tuesday, "park rangers went on a clandestine operation within the National Park and saw 6 men loading 3 Mahogany logs onto a trailer from the barquedier. This led to a joint operation with the police which resulted in the apprehension of 6 men including a 17-year-old minor, a Police Corporal and a former Forest Department employee, who were caught transporting 3 Mahogany logs."
A release from APAM says the men were arrested but, quote, "unbeknown to us only 3 of the men were charged and taken to court where they pled guilty as charged. APAMO is baffled as to why only 3 men were charged when the evidence is that all 6 men were seen loading the logs onto the trailer and it was the same 6 men who were caught in possession of the 3 logs. We would like to highlight that at no time during this process did the Forest Department nor the Police Department contacted us with a progress report or with information regarding the charges being laid." end quote.
The Chief Forest Officer today told us that indeed "three of the six individuals who were detained by the Police agreed to take the charges, one was a minor so he couldn't be charged." He added that the three did plead guilty and were fined $1500 each for 'Unlawful possession of Forest Produce".
But APAMO is very disappointed. Their release says quote, "We call on the relevant authorities in particular the Forest Department to take the necessary measures to ensure that all the efforts of surveillance and enforcement being undertaken by protected areas managers are worthwhile."
