After a gap of three months, a sandalwood tree in the premises of Britannia Industries on the Old Airport Road was chopped and stolen by a gang of four men amidst tight security in the wee hours of Tuesday.
According to the police, the gang came in a car and ventured into the premises of the Company, with four Security Guards on duty, and started chopping the tree. Alerted by the sound of tree being chopped, the Security Guards rushed to the spot. Sensing danger, the four escaped with two sandalwood logs leaving two others behind.
The Old Airport Road Police rushed to the spot and conducted investigations. The Britannia Industries campus has been vacant since the operations were shifted to the new Whitefield office. Though there are four Security Guards, the incident could not be prevented, the Police said.
The police are trying to verify the CCTV footages from in and around the Company premises to identify the gang.
Past incidents of sandalwood theft
March, 5, 2015:
A gang held three Security Guards of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL) hostage before felling a 15-metre-tall sandalwood tree and carting the timber away on Wednesday night. Interestingly, these trees were a few yards away from the State Reserve Police Force parade ground and Madiwala police station.
March 6, 2015:
A day after two sandalwood trees were chopped by a gang of eight in Madiwala, another incident of sandalwood theft was reported in Koramangala on Friday. An eight-feet long sandalwood tree grown in the compound of a house in KHB colony, 6 block, Koramangala.
March 28, 2015:
A group of thieves chopped off a 20-feet-long sandalwood tree from Institute of Wood Science and Technology premises in the wee hours of Saturday, despite having six Security Guards on night duty. The Institute, situated close to the Indian institute of Science and Aranya Bhavan, is considered a high security zone especially after the terror attack on IISC in 2005.
