The investigation follows a call by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) to look into alleged payments to police officials in the region. The group had released video footage of illegal loggers harvesting merbau and other species for the police chief’s timber company.
"Police corruption has facilitated the illegal decimation of Indonesia’s forests for years and undermined the government’s wider efforts to reform the timber trade," said Faith Doherty, head of EIA’s forest campaign.
