In a joint raid, officials of the police and forest departments seized 90 red sanders logs worth more than ₹1 crore from a vehicle parked near a car garage in Sathumathurai in Vellore taluk police station limits on Monday.
Joint raid
Sewa Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests, Vellore circle, said based on a tip-off, the personnel of the police department and Vellore forest range office conducted a joint raid at 3 p.m. on Monday orts utility vehicle was modified into a mini-van type of vehicle and parked near the garage. “The team broke open the container and found 90 red sander logs. These were grade 1 quality wood from Andhra Pradesh. The logs weighed a little over three tonnes and the international price is more than ₹1 crore,” he said.
They were conducting further investigation into the case, he added. “We have sought details of the vehicle from the Regional Transport Officer. As of now, we have registered a case against the owner of the vehicle and owner of the car garage under the Tamil Nadu Forest Act 1882 and Tamil Nadu Timber Transit Rules 1968,” he said.
He said the Forest Department has formed five teams to conduct round-the-clock patrolling to check on smuggling of red sanders.
