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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Illegal loggers are apparently evading arrest by getting their wives to strip naked and distract officials while they make a quick getaway with the valuable hardwood.
A local government official on Sulawesi island, La Ode Maradala, said authorities were too embarrassed to take action when confronted by the women.
"However tough the rangers may be, they don't have the heart to hurt the nude housewives," Maradala said in Jakarta Post newspaper.
Much of Indonesia's tropical rainforests have been stripped clean by illegal loggers and environmentalists say they are in danger of disappearing altogether in the next decade.