Land owners face prosecution over illegal timber, says Yangon forest department

Owners of timber yards will be prosecuted if illegal timber is found stored on their land, warned the Yangon Forest Department. U Thein Toe, the department’s director, said even if the land owners were unaware that their land was used to store illegal timber, they were still liable under the law. He called on land owners to inform the department if they have rented out their property for timber storage in order to curb illegal timber exports. “The owners of land who have rented out their compounds to companies for timber storage may not know if the timber is legal or not. Please come and coordinate with us,” U Thein Toe told The Myanmar Times.

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