The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, this week seized seven tonnes of red sanders worth Rs. 8.5 crore which was being smuggled out of Nhava Sheva Port to Dubai. Forged documents were being used for the shipment which was caught based on intelligence gathered by the DRI. Officials said that Shivgurunath Saravanan alias Anna, believed to be the kingpin in the smuggling syndicate, was arrested from his godown in Navi Mumbai.
The consignment is believed to have originated somewhere in the Pelhar-Palghar region of Thane district, according to senior DRI Mumbai officials.
Raids were conducted on the night of July 16 and 17 when the source of the consignment was traced to an obscure godown at Manor, Palghar, and 14.3 tonnes of red sanders logs seized. Saravanan was apprehended in Navi Mumbai following another raid on July 17.
The godown owner, Asif Mohammad Amin Shaikh, and his assistant Ghulam Hyder are also being questioned, officials said.
Senior officials said this is not the first time Saravanan has been arrested. He was earlier arrested on January 24, 2015, by DRI Mumbai in a smuggling case, after 4,84,000 packets of foreign cigarettes were seized at Nhava Sheva port.
The documents were forged in that case as well, officials said.
Red Sanders or petrocarpus santalinus is a tree species native to southern regions of India. The extraction of the tree is prohibited as the red wood has immense value in China, Myanmar and Japan, where it is used to make furniture and musical instruments. The smuggled wood is transported from India via sea to Singapore and Dubai, from where it is sent to China.
In the last three years alone, the DRI and Customs are estimated to have seized over 1,500 metric tonnes of red sanders worth Rs. 600 crore from Mumbai and adjoining ports.
