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By Akpan David, Calabar
There has been proliferation of small arms in much of Cross River State, leading to heightened crimes in forest communities.
This was disclosed by a group called ‘We The People’, a coalition of environment and ecology focused civil society organizations.
They lamented that in the eight years of Gov Ben Ayade’s administration, there has been wanton plundering of the vast forests in the state by foreigners and armed cartels backed allegedly by powers in the State.
This, they alleged, has led to massive lost of carbon credits revenue and other disasters.
They issued an open letter to the incoming governor, Senator Bassey Otu, titled Strategies form protecting the Cross River Forests and Reversing The Negative Trends, and signed by seven key players in environmental and conservation issues, including Dr Odigha Odigha, Dr Clement Ebri, Dr Martins Egot, Mike Olory, Lawrence Peter, Ken Henshaw and Ukeme Ekong.
According to them, the illegal trade in timber has exacerbated insecurity in the State.
They alleged that to facilitate the theft of forest resources, there has emerged an armed cartel called ‘Crossers’.
They explained that this cartel takes responsibility for arranging consignments of timber from the forest, and conveying them to designated destinations outside the state.
“Their rank consists of thugs and militants armed with illegal firearms, deployed to intimidate, terrorised and main forest protection agents and community vigilante groups that they perceive as threats to their operations.
“Their operations have led to the proliferation of small and light arms which have found their way into the commission of other crimes in the state, including robberies and kidnappings.
“They have attacked community members, volunteers groups and task force members who prevent illegal extraction and transportation of timber products.
“The illegal timber trade has expanded to include Chinese interests as well as international dimensions.”
