On the first day yesterday, some 100 trucks loaded with about 350 CFT timber each left Rangamati for Dhaka and other destinations in the country. Huge timbers were also transported in waterways.

Commercial transportation of timber from Rangamati to other areas was suspended for eight months in the wake of allegations of

massive plunder of trees from reserve forests over the years.

A probe committee formed by the MoEF, during investigation, had found that most of the timbers piled up by traders were extracted illegally.

The committee members during their visit to Rangamati in March this year had also seized a huge quantity of such illegal logs in the town.

But ignoring the probe committee's report, the authorities at a meeting on May 24 allowed all stacked logs, including the seized ones, for transportation under COR (Compound Offence Report).

The move came following 'strong lobbying' allegedly by an influential BNP lawmaker from Chittagong after repeated appeal to him by CHT timber traders, sources said.

They said at least five lakh cubic feet of timbers worth about Tk 50 crore, stacked earlier, will now be transported from Rangamati alone.

The sources said most of the timbers were illegally felled from reserve forests under cover of 'Jote Permit', issued jointly by the Department of Forest and the District Administration against timbers planted on private lands in response of application by landowners.

The probe committee had also found that forest employees issued false Jote Permits and transit passes (TPs) issued against were reused.