The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday said a Chinese national was nabbed for illegal possession of 14 kilos of agarwood valued at P2.5 million in Quezon City.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu lauded the apprehension of Qing Nan Lin by the operatives of the Philippine Operations Group on Ivory and Illegal Wildlife Trade (Task Force POGI0 under the DENR on Oct. 1 after a nine-kilometer pursuit operation that ended outside a Chinese temple at 81 P. Tuazon St. along the corner of Banawe and Calamba streets.
“We can only go from strength to strength for as long as we can rely on increasing public vigilance against environmental crimes as shown by this recent arrest,” Cimatu said.
The contraband is now in the custody of the office of Task Force POGI in the Biodiversity Management Bureau.
Rogelio Demellestes Jr., senior ecosystems management specialist, said initial investigations pointed to the forests of Samar or Leyte as the sources of the rare wood.
“Reports also indicate that tree poachers operating in the forests of Surigao and Butuan are also sources of this priceless wood product,” he said.
The quality of the seized agarwood could be sold at P180,000 a kilo, he said.
Also arrested in the sting operation were Jonathan Guzman and a certain Roberto Intes, both Filipinos.
“Our partners in the NBI-ECD are now checking their database to validate the identity of Intes who we suspect to be an Indonesian,” Demellestes said.
The suspects are presently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation awaiting court proceedings.
A high-grade agarwood could even fetch as much as P300,000 to P350,000 a kilo.