COIMBATORE: In one of the biggest seizures of sandalwood in recent times, the Coimbatore city police confiscated over one tonne of the priced wood worth several lakhs being smuggled in a truck with a secret chamber.

The pricey catch was made when a team of police led by sub-inspector T Jecis Udhayaraj were involved in a vehicle check in the early morning hours on Tuesday.

“When cops signalled a truck from Kerala, which came through Coimbatore to stop on the Cochin-Salem National Highway, the vehicle zipped past them without stopping. The cops gave chase in their two-wheelers, but couldn’t catch the speeding truck,” said a cop.

Not to let it go, the police tracked the movement of the vehicle to have gone through Tirupur and managed to give chase again in a hired car.

“Finally, the truck was spotted halted in Attur near Salem. It was then found loaded with some other materials. On suspicion, the cops seized the truck and brought it back to Coimbatore, where a thorough examination revealed the presence of a secret chamber. A further check revealed that sandalwood logs packed in sacks were stacked inside. They weighed around 1,051 kg and were worth several lakhs. It is one of the biggest busts in recent times,” said an official.

Police arrested driver Manoj, 52 from Malappuram in Kerala and further inquiries are underway to unearth the entire smuggling racket. The accused had planned to smuggle the sandalwood to Chennai and further to Andhra Pradesh. The police handed over the seized consignment to the forest department for further investigation.