Police aiding timber smugglers: Governor

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Police are not cooperating with the administration of eastern Kunar province in preventing timber smuggling, the acting governor alleged on Wednesday.

Shujaul Mulk Jalala hit out at police attitude while showing journalists a truckload of timber his guards seized in the Chaghan area on the outskirts of Asadabad, the provincial capital. 

The governor claimed police connived at timber smuggling from Kunar, a province blessed with precious forests. A presidential decree banning the transfer of timber from Kunar has long been in place.

But timber continued to be smuggled each night out of the province under the nose of police, the official said. “I’m forced to ask my personal guards to curb this illegal practice.” 

On the other hand, the Kunar police chief denied law-enforcement personnel’s involvement in timber smuggling. Brig. Gen. Abdul Haseeb Syedkhel said they had to free smugglers as a result of intervention from lawmakers.

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