Illegal logging syndicates smuggling illicit timber worth millions of dollars out of Indonesia are being aided and abetted by corrupt port authorities and a complicit shipping industry, according to a recent investigation. Posing as timber buyers, agents from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Indonesian non-governmental organisation Telapak, claim to have uncovered a Malaysian smuggling ring illegally trading endangered Ramin timber. The wood is smuggled from Sumatra by sea to the Malaysian port of Pasir Gudang in Johor where it is dried, given false certificates of origin and loaded into containers. The cargo is then shipped to Hong Kong or China for manufacturing before heading to US and Europe.
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