Rimu logs confiscated

About 30 rimu logs worth up to $700,000 have been confiscated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which says they may have been harvested illegally.

The logs, equivalent to 100cu m of timber, were taken from a 3000ha property in the Waitotara Valley in southern Taranaki.

The contractor involved said he was able to cut the trees because timber could be legally taken for firewood or other uses as long as it was not put through a sawmill.