CHENNAI: Officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 12.87 tonnes of red sanders logs, valued at around Rs 7.72 crore, from an export container at Chennai Port, and arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in an attempt to smuggle the protected wood to Malaysia.

The seizure made between November 9 and 11 came after it received specific intelligence inputs about a Chennai-based smuggling syndicate. The officials intercepted the container before it could be loaded onto a vessel. The identities of the arrested persons have not been disclosed.

According to a press release, the container had been declared to contain paper laminate rolls. During examination on November 9 and 10, DRI found red sanders logs concealed alongside a small quantity of the declared cargo and gravel stones.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate had allegedly misused the self-sealing facility available to a manufacturer-exporter to carry out the operation. The container was reportedly diverted to a private godown, where the paper laminate rolls were replaced with red sanders logs before it was sent to Chennai Port for export.

A subsequent search of the godown led to the recovery of the original paper laminate rolls, an industrial weighing scale, and traces of red sanders, providing further evidence of the alleged smuggling operation.

The seized logs and the cover cargo were confiscated and the three arrested persons were booked under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. Further investigations are under way to identify other members of the syndicate and trace the wider smuggling network.

Red Sanders is a protected species listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Its export from India is prohibited under the Foreign Trade Policy.