Forest staff suspended for smuggling timber

DFO says departmental inquiry initiated

HARIPUR:

An employee of the forest department, Omer Shah and his accomplice Imran Shah (check-post guard) who were arrested while smuggling valuable timber from the forest in the Makhnial area, have been officially suspended by Divisional Forest Officer (DF) Haripur, Farhad Ali.

As per the sources, the forest employee Omer Shah was stealing and later on selling valuable timber of Deodar and Genus Abies (Chear) trees for a very long time in Haripur, Makhnial area. As a result, the forest was not only suffering from deforestation but also losing millions of rupees.

On Thursday night, Omer Shah had rented a vehicle from Makhnial and loaded it with stolen timber at 8:30pm, and drove out of the premises with his accomplice.

As soon as DFO Haripur Farhad Ali received the information regarding the theft so he, in collaboration with Kalabat police, conducted a joint operation at around 11:30pm and recovered a vehicle full of timber from the residence of Omer Shah along with his driver named Safeer.

In this regard, information was shared with the senior police officers and DFO Haripur. On which the DFO Haripur and Khalabat police in a joint operation at 11:30pm seized a jeep full of timber at the house of Omer Shah. He was accompanied by two forest guards and a watchman.

According to sources, forester Omer Shah had not only been selling valuable forest timber but was also harassing locals by cutting trees off their land. He would load timber every day and sell in the market. Local sources claimed that the arrested employee is allegedly supporting a timber mafia across the region and has deep ties with them. In the darkness of the night, the vehicles are brought to Khalabat Township, from where they are dispatched to other areas through Tarbela Lake which reaches their destinations before dawn.

DFO Ali said that the police have registered a case against the forest officer and he is also in police custody. However, departmental inquiry of both the employees of the forest department is in process. For now, both have been suspended and inquiry orders against them have been written to the higher officials.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan had inaugurated the “Billion Tree Tsunami Campaign” in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the same area of Makhnial by planting one million saplings.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2022.