Timber smugglers are smuggling timber from the forest reserves of Tamu District, Sagaing Region, into India at night, said Than Soe, director of the Region Forest Department.

"There are some cases in which timbers are smuggled out of Tamu into India. But the volume is not large. Smuggling happens at night. The border between Myanmar and India is over 40 miles long. So they might have sought suitable but illegal routes. If we received a tip, we tried to prevent them. But some smuggling cases happened," said the director.

He added that there were security concerns at night despite seeing some timber smuggling cases.

Timbers are usually smuggled into India with the use of carts or motorcycles via Minthamee mountain ranges adjacent to Mawlaik Town.