Communities living near forests are called upon to fight deforestation and to report people engaged in these prohibited acts of environmental degradation.
Scores of people, who cut trees and destroy protected forests, have been arrested in Police operations against environmental degradation, in partnership with the public.
Police, local leaders and residents of Rulindo District apprehended one Elias Tuyisenge, 28, who was allegedly felling trees in a protected forest located in Gatete Village, Kamushenyi Cell in Kisaro Sector.
At the time of his arrest, Tuyisenge had already cut over 40 trees.
“He had turned this into a business… to cut trees in this protected forest and sell them,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Alex Ndayisenga, the Northern Region Political and Civic Education Officer (RPCEO).
Tuyisenge, he added, was reported by residents after they saw him coming out of the forest carrying trees.
SP Ndayisenga warned against these serious acts of destroying biodiversity and called for increased public ownership to fight deforestation. (End)