CAMP MARCELO A ADDURU, TUGUEGARAO CITY: Four suspected illegal loggers were arrested while transporting illegally sawn lumber in Santa Ana town in Cagayan province, according to a police report released on Sunday.
Lt. Col. Andree Abella, Police Regional Office 2 (PRO2) chief, said an Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) checkpoint operation in Barangay Casambalangan in Santa Ana town stopped four individuals onboard a truck without proper documents relating to the lumber transported.
Abella said the lumber with an estimated volume of 4,671.73 board feet worth P255,155.60 were seized from Jordan Dela Cruz Ramos, 31 years old, resident of 197 Calantipay, Baliwag; Ariel Perez Balibalita, 21, resident of San Rafael; Robert Timbal Gac-Ang, 23, resident of San Rafael; and Melchior Dignos Lee, 40, a resident of Barangay Barangca, Baliwag, all in Bulacan province.
According to the police, the apprehension stemmed from a tip received by personnel manning the IATF checkpoint that four individuals will be transporting assorted sawn lumber through the checkpoint.
Also confiscated from the suspects was a Mitsubishi Wing Van with plate registry NAP 7477 loaded with the assorted lumber of 62 flitches in different sizes.
Police said the illegally sawn lumber is now under the custody of Santa Ana town police station while the suspects were charged with illegal logging under presidential decree 705 or the revised forestry code. TVJ