MANSEHRA: The anti-corruption establishment has arrested eight forest department officials for their alleged involvement in illegal felling and smuggling of over 400 high-quality deodar trees in the district’s Upper Siren 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 tree felling and smuggling,” assistant director of ACE Hazara Afsar Khan told reporters here on Friday.

Accompanied by ACE Circle Officer in Mansehra Abid Hussain, he said that an investigation initiated by ACE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director Siddique Anjum said that all eight arrested officials were involved in illegally cutting down over 400 deodar trees in government-owned compartments of the Upper Siren 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,” he said.

Inquiry led to arrests, says ACE official

The official said during the raid, he said divisional forest officer 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 taken into custody.

“The detainees caused significant losses to the exchequer and undermined the government’s efforts to preserve nature and the environment in the Siren Valley and the rest of the country,” he said.

Mr Khan said as the investigation progresses, more arrests would be made of those who assisted the illegal tree logging and smuggling.

The provincial government had banned logging and timber transportation in June last year.

SENTENCED: Judge of the Model Criminal Court Aftab Iqbal on Friday handed down life imprisonment and a collective fine of Rs1 million to two people after convicting them for murdering two brothers over an old enmity here in 2022.

The convicts included Mohammad Bilal and his younger brother, Mohammad Khuram. However, a co-accused in the case, Babar Naseem, was acquitted.

The convicts were also ordered to collectively pay a fine of Rs1 million to the heirs of the deceased, including Mohammad Merban and Mohammad Ramazan.

An FIR registered by the Saddar police station said the accused killed two brothers over an old enmity while they were at a shop in the local bazaar with their cousin in March 2022.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2025