Alleged Nabire–Surabaya Wood Washing, Legality of 23 Containers Examined

Protecting forests and ensuring raw materials

The Director General of Forestry Law Enforcement, Dwi Januanto Nugroho, believes that allegations of wood laundering threaten the traceability of the origin of forest products. Legality documents should ensure the wood comes from a legal source.

"Forest product documents must be an instrument to ensure traceability and legality of wood, not be used to disguise the origin of illegal wood," said Dwi.

According to him, the entry of illegal wood through document manipulation can damage forest resources, the credibility of forest product management, and business certainty for industries that use legal raw materials.

"Prevention and supervision must be strengthened from the source of the wood, transportation routes, ports, to the receiving industry so that the space for laundering and trading illegal wood is increasingly closed," he said.

Inspection of the 23 containers is now an important part of testing the compatibility between the traded wood and its legal documents. The search results are needed to confirm the origin of the raw materials as well as unravel the alleged role of the parties in the Nabire-Surabaya route.