It appears that despite a moratorium on the harvesting of rosewood in Belize, and notwithstanding increased international trade restrictions, the pillaging of this prized hardwood continues.

Yesterday at about 3:30 p.m., PGTV News got a call that someone was hauling rosewood from the Trio area and taking it to a secret location in Bella Vista Village, which is in the north of Toledo. PGTV crew followed the story and came upon stacks of rosewood, freshly cut.

The information was relayed to the forest officer at Savannah Forest Station, and had they moved on time all of this could have been confiscated. Up to this time, we have no idea if they did or not, but what we are sure of is that there was no stamp, signifying official certification, on these logs and that they were freshly cut.

We estimated this to be about 7,000 board feet, valued at roughly $160,000.

(Amandala tried reaching the Chief Forest Officer for comment, but our attempts to reach him were futile.)