Locals of Indaw and Banmauk townships in Katha District are demanding to stop excessive teak smuggling, carried out by Chinese and Myanmar businessmen.

Since early 2022, more than a year after the coup, there has been excessive logging in reserved forests such as Me Taw, Pan Taw, Man Kat Taw, Khaung Thit around Banmauk, and forested areas near Ywar Haung and Ga He of Indaw, and southern border of Banmauk and Indaw, an Indaw resident told KNG.

“In Indaw, the teak trees are almost gone. Now they are mainly logging around Banmauk. They smuggled the teak logs to China. There are often large sawmills built in the forests. The top barks of the logs are stripped, and the logs are transported by large 12-wheel trucks. The Chinese truck drivers don't even speak Myanmar language”, he said.

The smuggled teak logs from Indaw and Banmauk are sent from Banmauk to Indaw and then to Katha. The logs that arrive at Katha are sent to Mansi and Chaung Wa and then on to China, according to locals.

As these areas are under the control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the People's Defense Forces, the local residents have appealed to the National Unity Government (NUG) to take proper actions on the matter.

“We do not want timbers to be smuggled like this unchecked. And we can say that this area is under the full control of NUG. Teak logs are being smuggled through the forest roads and are not taxed. We want NUG to conduct a field inspection of what is happening at the bottom and take actions”, another Indaw resident said.

Not only illegal logging, but also illegal gold mining has increased significantly in Myanmar since the military coup.