{Police in Gasabo district has destroyed about fourteen tones of a local tree called kabaruka cut illegally and seized in various routes in Kigali. }
The public destruction exercise was conducted on September 10 in Nduba Sector and attended by local leaders, people from the justice sector and area residents.
Superintendents Modeste Mbabazi, the Central Region Police Spokesperson said the trees were cut in different parts of the country and were confiscated on various roads in Kigali, which is used as transit route.
Majority of people involved, he said, were also arrested.
The seizure and the subsequent arrests were due to information provided by members of the public, he added.
He appealed to the general public to fight this act of environmental degradation because their effects affect all Rwandans.
Mbabazi reminded them that such acts are punishable under Rwandan laws and warned that whoever will be caught in these illegal activities will face the wrath of law.
Article 416 of the Rwandan penal code stipulates that anyone who illegally cuts trees or who causes others to do so is punished by six months to two years of imprisonment and a fine of Rwf300, 000 to Rwf2 million or one of the penalties.
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