Mozambique: Four Companies fined for illegal log exports

Authorities in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado have
fined four timber companies a total of 783,974 meticais (about 31,000
US dollars) for attempted illegal export of logs. The four companies –
Mofid, Pacifico Internacional, Kings Way and Thienhe – tried to send
containers full of logs to Asia from the port in the provincial
capital, Pemba.

The head of the Cabo Delgado Provincial Forestry and
Wild Life Services, Castro Rassul, cited in Friday’s issue of the
Maputo daily “Noticias”, said that the total amount of timber involved
was 958.8 cubic metres. Over half of this amount, 519 cubic metres,
was in containers owned by Mofid. Pacifico Internacional was trying to
smuggle out 233.5 cubic metres, Thienhe 168.8 cubic metres, and Kings
Way 37.5 cubic metres. The export of unprocessed hardwoods is
forbidden – yet somehow these four companies had loaded the containers
full of logs onto a ship before the whistle was blown, and the entire
cargo was rechecked. This was only possible with the complicity of
some officials in the forestry services. “Noticias” reports that other
timber operators in Cabo Delgado are not satisfied with a simple fine.
Mozambican companies in this area complain that this is not the first
time that certain operators, “invariably Asian in origin” have broken
the law on timber exports.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200901090867.html

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