Bureau Report
DIR: A big cache of he fresh trees that have been chapped down and was being loaded in a vehicle was seized in a forest of Thal area of the Upper Dir district as six offenders have been detained red-handed. Timbers and offenders were detained by the Commissioner Malakand Division Riaz Khan Mehsud while he was visiting the Thal from Kalam side.
During his visit, when the Commissioner reached in forests of Badgwai he saw some people were busy in cutting trees and loading it in a vehicle. Riaz Khan Mehsud detained the offenders on the spot along with their chainsaws and vehicle in which the chapped trees were being loaded.
The offenders were identified as Said Alam, Naseerullah, Sher Dad Khan, Bahadur Said, and Muhammad Rafiq residents of Lamoti and Jandrai areas of the Thal. The offenders and detained vehicle, as well as seized cutting tools, were sent to Thal police station for registering cases against them. Cases were registered against the offenders under forest acts.
Riaz got disgruntled over illicit cutting of trees in forests of Malakand division, especially in Upper Dir these days. It merits to mention that 25 forests officials in Malakand division, 11 of them belonged from Upper Dir, have been suspended from their services recently over negligence in their duties after the report of the probed committee.
The Commissioner said that forests in Malakand division would be preserved at any cost and any type of negligence could not be tolerated at that regard. He said that the timber smugglers would be handled with an iron hand.