MINGORA, Sept 22: After denuding Malakand division of its forests, the timber mafia has started cutting trees along the main roads as the authorities concerned have failed to check its activities.

The mafia has become so bold that its has stopped the practice of cutting trees at night and started its activities in the broad daylight without any fear.

The mafia employed different methods to achieve its target, sources said and added that initially, it peeled off a trunk skin and left it to dry so that it could easily lay its hands on the precious timber.

Scores of trees on the main Malakand-Mingora and Malakand-Dir roads were dried in this way, but neither the forest officials nor the highway authorities accepted the responsibility for this ruthless plunder of the national wealth by a handful of unscrupulous elements, the sources added.

Divisional forest officer, Swat, Hashim Ali Khan told Dawn that the trees along the roads had not been declared protected forests despite the act such a law existed in the Malakand Agency to prevent cutting of the roadside trees.

To a question about the activities of the timber mafia in Swat and Dir, the officer said those involved in the business were equipped with sophisticated weapons, which deterred the authorities from taking any action.

He said the people of Swat and Dir had been fighting for the ownership of the land for the last over two decades, adding that the authorities concerned in the two districts were holding meetings to stop this illegal practice.