CHITRAL: All the 10 persons involved in illegal cutting of precious trees in the forests of Arandu, a village situated on the Pak-Afghan border, have been arrested, it is learnt.

Chitral Deputy Commissioner Irshad Sodhar told Dawn on telephone on Saturday that some people had felled 40 trees of precious deodar in the Arandu forest the other day, and a video of the incident had gone viral in the area.

Following which, he said he had issued directives to the police for arrest of the culprits.

He said that all the 10 persons found involved in illegally felling the precious timber had been arrested.

Mr Sodhar said that the persons arrested in the case included Shamsuddin, Sher Ali, Syed Gulab, Said Ali, Khan Bahadur, Abdullah Jan, Sakhi, Hazratuddin, Abdul Wali and Abdul Qayum. He said that all of the accused were the residents of Arandu.

The deputy commissioner said that all the arrested persons were booked under different sections of the Forest Act 2002. He said that the accused would be presented before the local court on Sunday (today) to seek their physical remand.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018