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Public Officials Trained on Timber Theft Law

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• The crime of timber theft is prioritized and addressed by the Advisory Council Against Organized Crime of Los Ríos.

In order to analyze and familiarize themselves with Law 21488, which amends the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to classify the crime of timber theft and related offenses, and enable the use of special investigative techniques for its prosecution (Timber Theft Law), a training session on this matter was conducted for the public services involved in its enforcement, to operate in a technical and coordinated manner. It is relevant to mention that in this region, the crime of timber theft is prioritized and addressed by the Advisory Council Against Organized Crime of Los Ríos.

The activity took place in Valdivia and was attended by the regional presidential delegate Jorge Alvial; the acting regional director of CONAF, Marco Flores; the national head of CONAF's Enforcement Department, Richard Martínez; the provincial head of CONAF Valdivia, Rodrigo Gutiérrez; officials from Carabineros de Chile, from the communes of La Unión and Valdivia; personnel from the Investigative Police, representatives of the Public Ministry, Internal Revenue Service, as well as CONAF Los Ríos staff.

Marco Flores Cortez, acting regional director of CONAF, stated that "this session aims to carry out joint work among institutions focused on enforcing the timber theft law. As CONAF, we believe the key lies in building capacities and the coordination efforts that can be made to combat this phenomenon occurring in south-central Chile. In addition, general aspects of enforcement in road controls related to the native forest law were discussed, which involve correctly certifying the origin of products derived from native forests."

For his part, Richard Martínez, national head of CONAF's Enforcement Department, explained that "in this region, forestry production is very important, especially in the movement of exotic timber. We have focused primarily on communicating the regulations, obligations, and penalties under this law, as well as introducing an important document that existed even before this law: the electronic dispatch guide, which now serves as the instrument to certify the legal origin of non-native species transportation."

Finally, the regional presidential delegate Jorge Alvial emphasized that "this is very positive, as we are demonstrating that coordination and building competencies across different institutions will strengthen our ability to better address important issues like timber theft, which in the Los Ríos region has been prioritized as an organized crime offense that we must confront collectively."

Source: CONAF