{"id":5314,"date":"2024-08-15T19:46:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T19:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=5314"},"modified":"2024-08-15T20:03:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:03:49","slug":"fda-seeks-prison-term-for-suspected-timber-traffickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2024\/08\/15\/fda-seeks-prison-term-for-suspected-timber-traffickers\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Seeks Prison Term for Suspected Timber Traffickers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Terrence Collins, also known as Terrentius Tidiboh Collins, is one of four suspected timber smugglers.  Picture credit: LinkedIn\/Terrentius Collins <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By James Harding Giahyue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GBARNGA \u2013 The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is seeking penalties for four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in a lawsuit at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The court has seized thousands of timber abandoned at the facility and impounded the machines the suspects used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FDA petitioned the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County to imprison two Chinese nationals Chaolong Zang and Guoping Zang, a Turkish man Mehmet Onder Erem, and their Liberian alleged accomplice Terrence Collins<\/a>. The agency seeks a 12-month term for the men if convicted, court documents filed this and last month show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit seeks a US$25,000 fine for the men as well as a forfeiture of machines and a vehicle used in their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It accuses the men of conspiring and disregarding the law to \u201cengage in logging activities, including the illegal harvesting, purchasing, transporting and processing of timber\u2026\u201d It adds that they \u201cestablished a mini sawmill on the premises of\u2026 CARI\u2026, where timber was being processed and smuggled out of Liberia\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit also seeks the forfeiture of a vehicle recently used by the suspects to transfer some of the timber to another location. Police in Gbarnga had arrested Jonah Jackson, the driver of one of the suspects, for transferring the wood to his house in Suakoko, police records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A collage showing allegedly illegally harvested timber at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI). The DayLight\/Rebazar D. Forte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Mr. Zang sent me for the wood to take it from the CARI compound and carry it to my place in Suakoko for safekeeping,\u201d Jackson wrote in a police affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Sunday, July 21, 2024, we continued to haul the balance. But surprisingly, while we got on the compound, we saw the CARI security and the OIC, and they called the police to arrest us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court has impounded all machines and vehicles and imposed a stay on the timber until it determines the FDA\u2019s petition. If granted, it will be the first time the agency has enforced the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products<\/a> since it was formulated in 2017. Previous attempts in Bomi, Gbarpolu and Monrovia in 2022 proved futile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit comes barely a month after the FDA abruptly aborted<\/a> an initial attempt to petition the court. An April investigation<\/a> by The DayLight had exposed the suspected syndicate, showing photographs and documents of the allegedly illegal operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board Resolution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men deny any wrongdoing, saying they would not have exported the timber without the FDA\u2019s approval. They are asking Judge Cornelius Wennah to dismiss the case for \u201clack of legal capacity to sue\u201d them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their lawyer Nathaniel K. Innis, Sr. argued that two prosecution resolutions by the board of directors of the FDA had expired.   One of the resolutions, signed in 2022, calls on the FDA to prosecute alleged forestry offenders. The other, signed in 2017, endorsed the confiscation regulation being used in the trial.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt behooves the current Managing Director Hon. J. Rudolph Merab, Sr. to have filed a petition against the [four men] with a board resolution\u2026,\u201d the petition read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jonah Jackson, a driver of one of the suspects, transferred some of the allegedly illegally harvested timber to his house in Suakoko, Bong County. The DayLight\/Anonymous<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Innis also argued that the suspects legally purchased logs from Alpha Logging and Wood Processing Company, which abandoned its concession in Lofa and Gbarpolu Counties. Therefore, Innis further argues, that the men could not forfeit the vehicles or machines and that the FDA had no right to confiscate the wood in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Innis\u2019 motion for dismissal, FDA lawyer Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo counterargued that it has the authority to enforce forestry legal frameworks and that the board resolution, which Innis hinged his argument, was a matter of corporate governance. Dolo argued the 2022 resolution was still valid and should be used to prosecute the suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolo further argued that the men\u2019s operations were illegal as the FDA did not permit them. He added that their transactions with Alpha Logging were not recorded in the FDA\u2019s timber-tracking system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next hearing of the case has not been scheduled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[Additional reporting by a Bong-based journalist]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: Terrence Collins, also known as Terrentius Tidiboh Collins, is one of four suspected timber smugglers.  Picture credit: LinkedIn\/Terrentius Collins  By James Harding Giahyue GBARNGA \u2013 The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is seeking penalties for four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in a lawsuit at the Ninth Judicial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2091],"tags":[1849,2761,2764,123,107],"class_list":["post-5314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-impact","tag-bong-county","tag-central-agriculture-research-institute","tag-china-aid","tag-forestry-development-authority","tag-liberia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"FDA Seeks Prison Term for Suspected Timber Traffickers - The DayLight","description":"Top: Terrence Collins, also known as Terrentius Tidiboh Collins, is one of four suspected timber smugglers. 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