A SUNYANI District Court has fined a 40-year-old driver, Maxwell
Yaw Frimpong, GH¢3,000 for illegally transporting logs from Tain II Forest
Reserve without seeking permission from the Forestry Commission.
The court, presided over by Jojo Hagan, fined him after he had pleaded guilty before the court.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Ernest Donyina told the court that the accused was arrested by security personnel from Foam Ghana – a private forestry company – on the night of 27th February, 2019, at about 2pm near Berekum, with a truck loaded with nine billets of ceiba trees.
He said the DAF Crane truck with registration number BA 461-19 was then handed over to the police for investigations, and it later emerged that the accused loaded the billets from the Tain II Forest Reserve near Berekum.
He said the accused admitted the offence in his caution statement to the police and was therefore charged with entering a forest reserve and transporting timber without timber utilization contract, contrary to Article 17(2b) of Timber Resource Management Act, Act 547, 1998.
According to the prosecutor, the value of the nine billets is GH¢3,000.
After listening to the offence, the court fined Yaw Frimpong GH¢3,000 or in default spend six months in prison. d
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani