COIMBATORE: Miscreants axed down and smuggled five sandalwood trees from a park in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

According to police, some people who opened the park at Gandhimaanagar to go on a morning walk on Tuesday morning were shocked to find the sandalwood trees being axed down.

People used to go for a walk in the morning and in the evenings in the park. On receiving information, the Saravanampatti police rushed to the spot and held inquiries. The police scrutinised the CCTV footage in the neighbourhood to identify the culprits.

Police suspect that the trees were axed down in the early morning hours. One of the trees was left by the smugglers after they had made some initial attempts to chop it down. Incidents of sandalwood tree smuggling have occurred in the recent past, too, in places like Race Course.