It has been easy for arresting the timber smugglers, said Forest Officer Arun Sharma. We have started to use it when we are in office from last Friday, he said. We sent a team to the site when we saw timber felled at Kalatara in Goltakuri VDC while zooming in the area and we could arrest the people along with materials used for cutting as well as five cu. ft. of timber after two hours, he said.
Likewise on Monday, timber felling was seen in Purandhara VDC forest of western Dang while looking at the Googlemap in the afternoon and were able to arrest the eight smugglers along with 73 cu. ft. of timber at 1:00 am at night, said Poudel. He said this was the largest smuggling group.
The timber and smugglers are taken into custody and action has been forwarded by the District Forest Office. They will be made public in a press conference, he said.
A total of 11 armed forest guards are assigned at night after smuggling increased in the district it is learnt.
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