MANSEHRA, Feb 8: Smuggling of timber from the forests of Kohistan district to Punjab is on the rise, sources said.

They said the precious wood of deodar species is loaded in trucks as fir, an inferior species of pine, and then transported via the Karakoram Highway (KKH) to Punjab in connivance with officials of the forest department.

The sources alleged that deodar wood worth more than Rs1 billion had been smuggled over the past few months. They alleged that the conservator of Hazara forests and the DFO Pattan Dubair forests were aware of the smuggling but have been keeping quiet for unexplained reasons.

Dawn has learnt that an influential resident of Abbottabd had got loaded deodar wood in his four trucks in Dubair during the Eid holidays. The wood was shown as fir and the pass for its transportation was issued by the DFO Pattan Dubair forest division.

When the trucks reached Besham in Swat district, they were stopped by officials of the Alpuri forest division at the forest checkpost. The smugglers, according to the sources, contacted a high officer of the forest department in Abbottabad on telephone who asked them to break the barrier of the checkpost and take away the trucks. The smugglers did the same.

The sources said that the officials of Alpuri forest division had also informed the DFO about the raid but no action was taken against the smugglers. The trucks reached Thakot from Besham after a long journey.

It is learnt that after the Eid holidays the wood was unloaded at the residence of an influential man in Thakot in Batgram district and was re-loaded in other trucks before its illegal transportation to Punjab, allegedly under the supervision of an officer of the forest department.

The sources said the post of provincial chief conservator of forests had been lying vacant for the last few months due to which the officers of the forest department in Hazara had got a free hand and were allegedly conniving with timber smugglers in large scale smuggling of precious wood.