Several top Gabonese officials have been suspended over suspected involvement in smuggling precious timber six weeks after a huge consignment was discovered at Chinese warehouses, justice officials said Thursday.

Government spokeswoman Nanette Longa-Makinda said several top administration officials had been suspended.

Nearly 5,000 cubic metres (177,000 cubic feet) of kevazingo worth some 7 million euros ($7.8 million) was found in two depots belonging to Chinese companies in the Libreville port of Owendo in late March.

Several suspects were arrested, but 353 of the containers -- which had been confiscated -- mysteriously disappeared.

Gabonese prosecutors accused an influential Chinese entrepreneur of being the ringleader in the affair and collaborating with Gabonese officials.

Two hundred containers later turned up at the warehouses of two other companies.

Kevazingo is a rare central African wood that is prized in Asia, notably for sculpting into temple doorways, tea tables and meeting tables.

Gabon's forest sector accounts for 60 percent of the West African country's gross domestic product.

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