Gaharu tree was reported to be illegally felled at Penang Botanic Gardens last Sunday 12 Feb 12 on Valentine's Day. The Malaysian authorities had arrested a Vietnamese allegedly felling the trees in the rainforest near the Penang Botanic
Gardens and other areas. There are remaining 2 more suspects believed to be involved in the case has not been detect yet.They found the axes, 3 canes and parang on site, which I presumed the canes were used to extract the black oil from the trees.
They did not publicly report the total number of the trees being felled, what are sizes (only about the latest tree was about 30m tall with a diameter of about 0.7m) and if they managed to sieze the gaharu trees been stolen. Nothing much about how they caught the Vietnamese.
Ironically, The Star newspaper reported that a gaharu tree was felled about 3 hours before the Penang Chief Minister went on an inspection near the Penang Botanic Gardens. He was in another section of the forest with reporters and officials from the state Forestry Department to check on allegations of chopped trees at about 4pm on Sunday. Doesn't it smells fishy? Sounds like a foul play to make the Penang CM looks bad since the election is coming.
Ironically, The Star newspaper reported that a gaharu tree was felled about 3 hours before the Penang Chief Minister went on an inspection near the Penang Botanic Gardens. He was in another section of the forest with reporters and officials from the state Forestry Department to check on allegations of chopped trees at about 4pm on Sunday. Doesn't it smells fishy? Sounds like a foul play to make the Penang CM looks bad since the election is coming.
Gaharu (or agarwood) are famous for the oil extract from the agarwood, used for medicine and perfume, and it fetches a handsome price in the Middle East.
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