GILGIT, July 2: The Northern Areas Forest and Wildlife Department (NAFWD) has transferred at least 26 range forest officers (RFOs), stationed at various forest belts, reportedly on the charges of inefficiency and dereliction, sources said.

The sources said some of the range forest officers had been rendering their duties at one station for last many years where they had developed “links” with the timber mafia that necessitated their displacement from their previous stations, while some officials were allegedly involved in timber scams.

They added that the major reshuffling had taken place in Gilgit and Diamer districts because during the current year, the timber mafia felled down more than 2000 forest trees in these districts due to the foresters’ negligence.

The NA forest authorities said Sher Azam, Yaqoob Ali, Basheer Ahmed, Fida Mohammad, Saleemullah, Iftikhar Ahmed Afridi, Ali Shah, Shah Suleman, Mohammad Arif, Shabbir Hussain, Aminuddin, Javed Akhter, Ghulam Mohammad, Jahangir Khan, Ghulam Haider, Essa Khan, Abid Ali, Abdul Latif, Imtiaz Ali, Amir Hamza, Ahmed Ali, Abdullah, Mohammad Amin, Kalbe Ali and Mohammad Akram, all range forest officers, had been directed to take their charges at new posts within two weeks.