Kenya a key route for illegal timber, says Interpol

Kenya is a major conduit for illegal logging and timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo and parts of Southern Africa, the International Police (Interpol) have said.

The trade is fueled by bribery of border officials, making illegal logging the fourth most lucrative illegal environmental trade in the world.

“People have stopped trading in diamond and are into timber because they do not pay taxes and make super-normal profits,” said Davyth Stewart of the Environmental Security Sub-Directorate at Interpol.

Mr Stewart said the trade is worth Sh10 billion annually, with the main destination being the Gulf States.

“Mombasa is a major transit point for the illegal timber. We would like to see strengthening of controls at the port,” he said during the second United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi yesterday.

Interpol monitors such trade in other parts of the globe, including the Amazon, Central Africa, Equatorial Africa and South East Asia.

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Stewart said rangers and forest officers are made vulnerable and compromised by the low pay they receive. “Legal timber is mixed with illegal ones, making it hard for law enforcers to distinguish them,” he said.

The trade is also complicated by the huge demand for charcoal from East Africa by the Gulf States.