Four suspects have been arrested by the Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) for illegally felling trees with a chainsaw for timber production.
The arrests were made with the assistance of personnel from the State Police Command, in accordance with laws prohibiting tree felling in the state.
According to reports, the suspects were caught in Nahuta village along the Darazo-Bauchi Federal Highway while the Director General of the Agency, Dr. Mahmud Bose, was conducting a routine surveillance mission to enforce the law against tree felling.
In an interview with Tribune Online, Dr. Bose explained that he encountered the four offenders while travelling along the road during his surveillance.
He stopped and approached them to casually inquire about their activities without revealing his identity.
“I casually placed a call away from the offenders, requesting for Police backup from Darazo Division. I also called the Chairman of Darazo LGC, intimating to him what I came across. He later joined us at the scene of the incident,” he explained.
“When the Police arrived, it was then that it dawned on the offenders the gravity of their offence. Thereafter they were arrested and taken into Police custody.”
While narrating his side of the story, the leader of the group who is from Gombe State, explained that he bought the tree from a land vendor in Nahuta village (the scene of the offence) with the aim of felling and chopping the tree into timber for profit.
He admitted that the felling of trees was an offence and that it was his first time being arrested, regretting his action.
The four suspects are with the police in Darazo for investigations and possible prosecution as contained in the relevant law.
