admin 
PESHAWAR, (MANEND NEWS): On the orders of Regional Police Officer Malakand Sajjad Khan, the police arrested 138 accused of timber smuggling from across the district and sent 16 to jail under 3-MPO, during the last three months.
Under the supervision of District Police Chiefs of Malakand division, 49 were arrested from Swat, 13 from Buner, 12 from Shangla, 29 from Lower Dir and 35 from Upper Dir.
Similarly, two each from Swat and Lower Dir district, 11 from Upper Dir and one from Lower Chitral were booked under 3-MPO and sent to jail.
The police took three trucks, 20 pick-up vans, one ambulance and other vehicles loaded with timber and logs into custody and handed over the same to the Forest Department, which imposed Rs 10 million fine on the accused arrested.
Sajjad Khan while issuing orders to the district police chiefs across the division, said that timber mafia should be dealt with iron hands, adding that the natural beauty of Malakand Division would be protected at all costs.
“Malakand is a tourists’ destination due to its beautiful landscape, forests area and natural tourists’ resorts. Nobody will be allowed to spoil its beauty”, he said.
The RPO directed that the network of timber mafias should be thwarted by putting up strict blockades on the entry and exit routes in the division and by taking strict measures against them.