BANGKOK, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 rosewood logs, illegally felled in Thailand, were seized Monday by a navy unit on the Thai side of Mekong River, said a navy officer.
A total of 102 rosewood logs, allegedly felled in northeastern Thailand by illegal lumberjacks, were being unloaded from a pickup truck on the bank of the international river in Khemarat district of Ubon Ratchathani, about 600 km northeast of Bangkok, according to Capt. Phornphirom Yodboon, commander of the navy's Mekong Riverine Unit based in the northeastern province.
The rosewood logs were being smuggled across Mekong River to Laos and would have been delivered to an unreported destination, if not stopped by the Mekong Riverine Unit, the navy captain said.
He said that five smuggling suspects managed to escape, leaving behind the timber and truck, a few minutes ahead of the raid by the navy unit.
Those rosewood logs would have been sold for nearly 1 million U.S. dollars in a black market.
Such high prices of the rosewood had considerably tempted lumberjacks and smugglers though many had been earlier arrested by Thai authorities.
