Illegal Logging Has Become More Violent Than Ever
Criminal loggers and land snatchers are committing more murders around the world, but they almost always escape justice.
After a productive day—they’d encountered a gang of illegal loggers and confiscated six chain saws—the four patrollers in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Protected Forest strung up their hammocks and settled in for the night. Come morning, they’d return to the nearest Forestry Administration station, just 2.5 miles away.
But at 1 a.m. on November 7, 2015, two intruders slipped into the campsite. They approached the hammock where Sieng Darong, 47, a leader of the Forestry Administration’s law enforcement team, lay sleeping, drew their weapons, and fired two shots—one into Darong’s head, another into his throat.
Sab Yoh, 29, a provincial police officer, was next, receiving a shot in the stomach.
The commotion woke Phet Sophoan, 30, a member of the border police, who leaped
