GRASKOP – The police had at last cut to the chase and joined forces with the forestry industry to proactively combat the timber related crimes that had been plagueing the area for months.
This came after roleplayers in the forestry industry had begged for police assistance for more than two years. A special operation was planned and conducted on Thursday. “The police took us by surprise with this initiative and we are extremely grateful that they had joined forces with us,” said an elated Mr Pieter Knipschild, chairperson of the Lowveld Timber Theft Forum (LTTF).
“There were a few hiccups but I am not going to elaborate on this. I strongly feel that this operation was positive and together with the police we are slowly moving into the right direction,” he added.
According to Ms Joey Lascelles, spokesperson for LTTF, the purpose was to visit known timber thieves, their depots and timber related markets in the rural areas.
“The operations started near Venus Plantation and continued to Acornhoek in the Bushbuckridge district,” she told Lowvelder.
Lascelles confirmed that during the operation various arrests were made. “These include various suspected timber thieves at their homestead in the act of debarking or offloading poles, possession of dagga, driving non-roadworthy vehicles, driving without a driver’s licence as well as selling liquor without a licence.”
In a shocking turn of events a police officer was caught sleeping in the house of one of the most well known suspected timber thieves in the area. “He told the officers in charge of the operation that the suspect had gone to deliver timber at Burgersfort. He could not explain what he was doing at the suspect’s house,” said Knipschild.
One of the biggest obstacles that the police encountered during the sting operation was that most of the illegal timber sellers had permits from Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF).
“The suspects bought for example a 6 meter pole, as per what was written on the permit, for R5.01. Yet the amount of timber found in these depots does not correspond with the amount on DWAF receipt, but it would be difficult to proof otherwise,” explained Lascelles.
Despite these setbacks the foresters were more optimistic regarding the future of timber theft. “I still believe the operation had a huge impact even though we could not prove that those markets were selling stolen timber,” said a source close to the operation.
Lascelles said she wanted to thank all the people involved for their time, efforts and professionalism. The police had despatched 68 officials and 17 vehicles from various stations across the province to partake in the operation.
This followed the drastic increase in timber theft in the Graskop area and various other incidents that had been escalating at an alarming pace.
