YANGON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar authorities seized a total of over 1,200 tons of illegal timber in Yangon during the past three weeks, official media reported Tuesday.
The seizure was made by the Forestry Department based on information provided by local people, said U Thein Toe, director of the Yangon Region Forestry Department.
The confiscated illegal timbers, most of which were Padauk and teak, were hidden in such places as warehouses and containers near harbor to be exported to overseas market.
Myanmar government announced in April last year the suspension of logging for the current fiscal year 2016-2017 but later allowed resumption of limited timber production for the next fiscal year 2017-18.
Myanmar is one of most resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia. However, statistics showed that forest coverage in Myanmar dropped to 42.92 percent in 2015 from over 57 percent in 1990.
Myanmar has restricted wood logs export and instead it encourages export of value added wood products since 2014.
