155 Chinese loggers freed in Myanmar as part of national amnesty

155 Chinese loggers were freed from prison on Thursday in Myanmar, where they had been kept after 153 of them were given life sentences last week for illegal logging, South China Morning Post reported. The loggers were arrested in January in a crackdown on Myanmar’s lucrative illegal logging and timber trade. More than 400 vehicles and 1,600 logs were seized during the raid, state media said at the time. The loggers were among 210 foreigners included in Thursday’s 6,966-person amnesty, according to prison and home ministry officials. The pardons, timed to coincide with a Buddhist religious holiday, come ahead of a November general election.