Officials of the Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Forestry and Environment recently intercepted 21 Gambian trucks including one Senegalese that were carrying illegal forest products across the country.
The crackdown was successful due to support from personnel of the Gambia Armed Forces who are deployed at the Department of Forestry to help in enforcing the Forestry Act. .
The said the trucks are currently impounded at Kafuta Forestry camp, for prosecution.
According to the Regional Forestry Officer (RFO) for West Coast Region, Sisawo Sabally, who granted interview to this reporter on Wednesday in Brikama, among the 21 trucks, five with the culprits have been arraigned before a magistrate court in Brikama and sentenced to pay a fine, in default to serve imprisonment. Some of the culprits, he said, have paid and discharged accordingly.
Mr Sisawo said the remaining truck drivers will soon be arraigned before the Brikama Magistrates’ Court while another set of five offenders are currently standing trial at a district tribunal in Gunjur Kombo South before the chief.
“The Department of Forestry was able to achieve all this due to allegiance to national service and the political will from the leadership of the department and the Ministry of Forestry,” RFO Sisawo said.
He added: “The leadership is very supportive in the protection of our forest covers, especially the director of forestry, LT Colonel Salifu Corr, who have been very proactive in supporting the staff of the forestry department.”
He described Lt. Col. Salifu Corr as a director with a difference, “who has the welfare and the protection of our forest cover at the bottom of his heart”.
He seized the opportunity to commend the forestry director for his vibrant initiatives and strategies introduced at the department of forestry within a short period. Since his appointment as director of forestry, LT. Col. Salifu Corr has taken up giant steps in ensuring that there is zero tolerance for forest intruders.
Mr Sisawo urged all and sundry to desist from exploitation of the country’s forest cover, that anyone found wanting would face the full force of the law in respect of the Forest Act.
He also thanked the Inspector General of Police on behalf of the director of forestry for approving a police prosecutor for the Department of Forestry.
