Bid to smuggle red sanders to Malaysia foiled by Customs team

The CPU personnel had received information that red sanders were being smuggled to Thoothukudi Port via Madurai in a container lorry. Therefore, the CPU men intensified their checks on the highways. On Wednesday night, when they stopped a lorry they found vacuum pumps loaded on top of the goods. When they checked further, they found a large number of red sanders logs stacked inside.

They swung into action immediately. They seized the logs, arrested the driver and two more persons. The logs were examined in the presence of officials of Forest Department and their value was ascertained.

Police sources said that the seized red sanders weighed 9.5 tonnes. “Usually, when the tree is felled, the wood would be transported in its original shape. This is the first time we found that logs were purposely made cylindrical so that even during a random check they might pass off as ordinary wooden logs.

“The value of the seized wood is estimated to be about Rs 3 crore.” Sources also said that the red sanders were being brought from Andhra Pradesh and were about to be smuggled to Malaysia.