The Vithura police on Sunday landed a major haul of sandalwood that was being transported from deep forests near Kallar.
Five persons were arrested and sandalwood weighing close to 50 kilograms, packed into three sacks, were seized from them.
The accused have been identified as Manikuttan, Bhagavan Kani and Madhavan Kani from Kallar, and Shani and Rajesh from Vithura.
According to the Vithura SHO V. Nijam, the police have been keeping a watch over them for the past 12 days, right from the time they entered the forest.
They were nabbed by a team comprising civil police officers Siju Robert and Nithin, while they were carrying the sandalwood in an autorickshaw towards Peppara. The police team chased them down near Chappath.
“The sandalwood smuggling teams like this are always prepared for the long haul.
They go inside the forests with enough supply of food and water to sustain them for more than two weeks. In the forests, most of the sandalwood trees are scattered across different places. These men who are regularly involved in smuggling have the capability to identify the tree from its leaves,” says Mr. Nijam.
The smuggling team often seek the help from tribal communities. Some of the areas from where the accused cut down the trees could be reached only by walking for more than a day.
Interrogation on
Manikuttan, one of the accused, has similar cases pending against him in Kerala as well as in Tamil Nadu. The questioning of the accused is going on. Cases under the relevant sections of the Kerala Forest Act will be charged against them.
There have not been many cases of sandalwood smuggling reported from the area recently.
The latest such incident happened around four years ago, when the police arrested smugglers who were transporting sandalwood in a KSRTC bus.
