8 forest dept officials arrested in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: The Anti-Corruption Establishment Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has arrested eight Forest Department officials for their alleged involvement in the illegal cutting and smuggling of over 400 high-quality deodar trees in the district’s Upper Siran Forest Division.

“We carried out raids and arrested two divisional forest officers, an additional forest officer, a range officer, and foresters and guards after an inquiry found them guilty of illegal deforestation and tree smuggling,” Afsar Khan, the assistant director of ACE Hazara told reporters here on Friday.

Flanked by Circle Officer ACE Mansehra, Abid Hussain, he said that an investigation initiated by ACE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director Siddique Anjum confirmed that all eight arrested officials were involved in illegally cutting over 400 deodar trees in government-owned compartments of the Upper Siran Forest Division.

“A team led by me raided the offices of the Siren Forest Division in the Channia area and arrested the accused, who were then shifted to our circle office for further legal formalities,” Khan said.

During the raid, he said that Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Jawad Mumtaz, former DFO Mudassar Hussain, Additional DFO Upper Forest Subdivision Jabori Mamoon Khan, Range Officer Mohammad Alam, Forester Niaz Ali Shah, and Forest Guards Waqar Bukht, Rehmat Ali, and Zeeshan were arrested.