Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Police Business: or is it "Police in Business"?

As reported by the Suara Timor Lorosae on 15 Outober 2008: Seems that PNTL in Suai have cut down and stolen 1000 trunks of teak trees in Fohorem subdistrict (see map below this).

That is alot of teak. Enterprising people these PNTL officers, if indeed the allegations are true.

The report states that representatives of the the community on whose land this teak used to be apparently met with PD Members of Parliament Vital dos Santos and Adriano Nasicamento with a view to seeking a resolution to the case of the business minded police officers. I wonder if police in question were ordinary PNTL of if they were UPF who "manage" the border. Fohorem is near a UPF post so maybe it was them - espcially seeing as the allegation is that the teak was then smuggled and sold across the border. Ah smuggling. The good days. At least these UPF are not handing out there guns. Or maybe the deal was teak in exchange for guns. That would hardly not be a new idea.

Either way Fohorem is a very long way from the long arm of the law - especially if it is the law itself whose behaviour is being called into disrepute. I guess it is good business, or is it just police business.