Karnataka is not just a transit hub for red sanders smuggling, but it has now emerged that most of the money on the red wood is made as it passes through the State.
The city police busted a major red sanders smuggling ring in January and made the largest seizure of around 16 tonnes of the red wood, worth about Rs. 47 crore.
Investigations into the case have now revealed that unlike earlier, gangs from the State are not just arranging the logistics of transporting the illegally felled timber from Seshachalam forest area in Andhra Pradesh to the ports for smuggling it out, but are now into trading of the precious wood.
These gangs operating in the Old Mysuru region, mostly those who were earlier involved in sandalwood smuggling, buy red sanders from smaller gangs operating in Seshachalam forest area for Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000 a kg, police sources said.
Mumbai, Mangaluru and Kolkata ports are the hotbeds of smuggling red sanders now, a police official said. National Highway 4, passing through Bengaluru has emerged as the prime route to transport the illegally felled red sanders to Mumbai and Mangaluru ports.
The gangs in the State have developed a network of non-descript godowns in the forests of Kollegal, Mysuru and Malnad region enroute to Mangaluru, from where they resell the wood to gangs from Mumbai mafia operating in the ring, who, in turn, sell it to Chinese gangs, police sources said.
A senior police official said that by the time gangs from the State sell the wood in Mumbai, its price would have touched a whopping Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 a kg — almost 10 times of what they would have paid to tribal gangs in Seshachalam forest area.
