Bandar Lampung, March 5, 2020. The Joint Team of the Sumatra Gakkum Office, Lampung Regional Police, and the Lampung Provincial Forest Service, March 4, 2020, arrested CP (46) illegal sonokeling wood cukong, residents of Ambarawa Village, Ambarawa District, Pringsewu Regency, which has since been 10 February 2020 became a fugitive. CP was arrested while at an inn in Tanjung Karang Timur, Bandar Lampung. PPNS Balai Gakkum KLHK will ensnare CP with Article 94 Paragraph 1 Letter a Jo. Article 19 Letter a, Law No. 18 of 2013 concerning the Prevention of Eradication of Forest Destruction, with the maximum penalty of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum fine of Rp 100 billion.

On 10 February 2020, CP managed to escape from the ambush of the officers during a raid on his home in Ambarawa Village. CP as a recidivist involved in several criminal cases between 2018-2019, was subsequently determined to be included in the wanted list by PPNS DG Gakkum KLHK. In 2019 the CP plot was processed as a suspect and entered the trial.

Three CP colleagues namely DS (35) Ambarawa Village residents, AG (31) Sumber Agung Village residents, and NF (37) Padang Manis residents, Way Lima District, Pesawaran District, have been named as suspects and the files of the three suspects have been transferred to the High Prosecutors Office Lampung.

Between 2016-2020, the Directorate General of Gakkum KLHK has handled 21 cases of illegal logging of sonokeling wood. A total of 20 cases have been submitted to the prosecutor’s office and 2 cases are still under investigation.

With the arrest of CP and his colleagues, DG Gakkum hopes to have a deterrent effect, so that illegal logging of rosewood, especially in Lampung Province, will not be repeated.

Ratio Ridho Sani, Director General of Environmental and Forestry Law Enforcement said, “We are very serious and will not stop taking action against perpetrators of environmental and forestry crimes, because crimes like this have harmed many people”. “The arrest of the cukong is proof of our seriousness and commitment to upholding the law, we hope that fugitive perpetrators like this are punished severely” said Ratio Ridho Sani