Illegal chainsaw operators attack forestry taskforce

Breku, (Ash), Dec. 21, GNA 96 A group of chainsaw operators at Breku near Asankare in the Asante Akim South district on Saturday launched a severe attack on a taskforce delegated by the Juaso Forestry Services Division (FSD) to retrieve some illegal sawn lumbers from the North Formaso Forest Reserve.

In what appeared to be a well orchestrated onslaught, the assailants mounted a roadblock at an obscure portion on the road leading to the reserve where they hurled stones from all directions immediately the taskforce reached the spot. Though the taskforce managed to retreat to safety, five of them sustained various degrees of injury while the windscreen of the two KIA trucks in which they were driving got smashed. The victims had since been treated and discharged sat the Juaso District hospital.

Mr Bright Manso-Howard, the district manager of the FSD, briefing the Ghana News Agency at Juaso said he received information on Friday that a group of young men were plundering the North Formaso Forest reserve without authority. Mr Manso-Howard said he immediately requested for military assistance at the regional level, knowing the violent nature of the people in the area only to be informed that the military team were engaged elsewhere. He, however, dispatched some of his officers to the reserve on Saturday where they discovered a large quantity of sawn lumber and thereby arranged for trucks to convey them to the district office of the FSD.

According to the district manager, the taskforce team was on its way to convey the lumber when they came under attack, hence abandoning their mission. He said he succeeded in bringing down the military team on Sunday but the lumber had already been carted from the reserve when they got there, rendering all their efforts fruitless. He called for the institution of a standby military team at the district level to swiftly respond to such emergencies. He said the presence of the military was the only solution to the problem since there had been several attacks on forestry officials and policemen alike.