YANGON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- About 16,000 tons of illegal timber were confiscated in Myanmar in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2017-2018, becoming third largest haul in the past 10 years, official media reported Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, about 1,352 tons of charcoal, 659 backhoes, cranes, trailers, tractors, motorbikes, three-wheel motorbikes, motorboats and motor vessels and 1,000 sawmills were also seized during the period.
Some 44 percent of Myanmar's forests are threatened by illegal timber extraction, ranking third in the world in deforestation, according to Forestry Department statistics.