PUBLISHED : 26 Aug 2023 at 04:00
A senior forestry official based in Kalasin has been transferred pending a fact-finding probe into the disappearance of Siamese rosewood worth 1 million baht from the compound of a municipal office in Yang Talat district.
Surachai Achalaboon, director-general of the Forestry Department, said yesterday the director of Kalasin forestry centre has been moved to an inactive post to facilitate the fact-finding investigation into the missing wood.
Seven pieces of the much-sought Siamese rosewood, estimated to be worth 1 million baht, went missing from the municipal office in tambon I-tue on Aug 5, triggering a police probe. At least six state officials are allegedly involved.
Pol Maj Gen Suwan Chiewnawinthawat, chief of Kalasin police, said on Friday police have gathered evidence and are prepared to press embezzlement charges against eight people.
Of the accused, three are forestry officials, two are village heads, a tambon chief, a chairman of a tambon administrative organisation and his worker, he said.
He said the wood, which had been seized in a raid and kept at the municipal office, had been brought out to an open area in the compound for examination by brokers and later taken from the premises after a sale was made.
A source said two potential buyers were interested in the wood, with the first making an offer of 190,000 baht and the other offering 290,000 baht.
In a related development, the Kalasin governor has ordered a disciplinary probe against state officials involved in the illegal felling of 22 Siamese rosewood trees in Kam Hai Wittiya School in Nong Kung Si district for sale.
A fully grown Siamese rosewood tree can sell for one million baht, and the price goes up three-fold when exported overseas.