(TH) - Politicians linked to forest encroachment

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Politicians linked to forest encroachment

 

By Theerawat Khamthita

 

Police are digging deep for clues in its efforts to implicate local

politicians and a Chinese businessman in an alleged forest encroachment case in

Chiang Saen district. The effort will focus on a 53-year-old Chinese trader

named Yian Ping who allegedly used his political connections to get a Thai ID

card, under the name of Chanchai Ruayrungrueng, which was then used to buy land

in tambon Ban Saew, where the encroachment took place, a source said.

 

The investigation also led to a joint police-forestry raid in the Sopkok forest

reserve near Ban Huay Koyroy village early this week.

 

The raid team found that 918 rai of forest was encroached and seized 13

trailer-trucks, processed logs, and tree-cutting equipment.

 

Some of the arrested workers confessed to police they were hired to clear and

plough the forest area, but did not name the person who was paying them for the

job.

 

A forestry official said a well-known politician had ordered local leaders to

cut down trees in the reserves. The forest land was being cleared for the

planting of rubber trees which were in great demand in China, said a security

source.

 

Mr Yian Ping, who was reportedly made chairman of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai

party's branch in China, became a suspect after his Thai name disappeared from

the Interior Ministry's database.

 

 

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