Indonesian New Guinea police officer Labora Sitorus was arrested after roughly six years in the illegal logging and animal trafficking business, through which he is said to have acquired more than $150 million. The arrest comes as Indonesia debuts its long-awaited Timber Legality Verification System in compliance with the EU Timber Regulation, the U.S.'s Lacey Act, and other laws that prohibit the import of illegally harvested wood products.
Sitorus was identified after an investigation by the Indonesia Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which linked his family business, PT Rotua, to a recent seizure of 115 containers of illegally-logged merbau timber in Surabaya. A further 1,500 merbau logs have been seized in Papua, according to London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). PPATK estimated that $150 million passed through the company's bank account.
In 2009, EIA filmed one of Sitorus's crews felling trees and sawing them into planks before sending them down to the beach. The group featured in the video admitted that they were running nine chainsaws across the island of Batanta in Papua province, producing roughly 4,000 cubic meters of protected timber per year.
"Just as the EU Timber Regulation comes into force, the Sitorus case makes it difficult to believe all is well in Indonesia's timber trade. It is imperative Indonesia protects the reputational gains the SVLK is bringing it by showing the world it can successfully prosecute this blatant case of police corruption," said EIA's Faith Doherty in a statement.
