Rayong authorities and volunteers almost caught several laborers who were cutting down trees in Hin Tan Hill yesterday.
The authorities said that as soon as they received deforestation reports from local villagers, they rushed to the scene to find a group of loggers cutting down the trees. Before they could nab the gang, the loggers escaped leaving behind the wood they had cut down over 800,000 square meters.
Hin Tan Hill is a reserved forest and also an important agricultural water source.
The authorities said they suspected that the illegal wood would have been used to build furniture and that they would work to find the local businessman responsible for the logging, the Daily News reported.
