Four suspended officers are Senior Lieutenant Colonel Cao Huu Tung, head of the Border Guard Station 747, and his subsidiaries including Lieutenant Colonel Bui Khac Hiep, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Cong Khanh and Captain Tran Tien Vinh.
Head of the Border Guard Station 747 Senior Lieutenant Colonel Cao Huu Tung
"The case has badly damaged the border guards' credibility," said Colonel Tong Anh Tuan, deputy head of the provincial Border Guard Command.
According to Tuan, in 2015, Dak Lak People's Committee salvaged the timber found in Dak Dam Stream and auctioned it to the owner of the biggest wood supplier in Ea T'ling Town, Pham Huu Phuong, nicknamed Phuong Rau. Phuong asked to set up a site near the border guard station to look after the timber.
When being asked whether the seized trucks, that were carrying the illegal timber, ran past the border guard station on their routes, Tuan said they were still waiting for the result of the investigation. He promised to not cover up for anyone involving in the case.
On April 27, the police from the Environmental Police Department and the Mobile Police Command raided a major illegal logging site in Yok Don National Park and seized two trucks in Ea T'ling Town. According to the police, the loggers said that the illegal logging site belonged to the Pham Huu Phuong.
Timber seized at an illegal logging site in Yok Don National Park on April 27
The case is under investigation.
