Man abandoned van with red sanders in guise of repair

Vellore

A day after a van containing 90 red sanders logs was seized at a mechanic shop in Sattumadurai on the outskirts of Vellore, Forest department officials on Tuesday registered a case and are investigating the source of the logs.

The logs, weighing over two tonnes, is estimated to be worth more than Rs 1 crore. Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the van arrived at the shop on Saturday, when its driver asked the mechanic to repair the vehicle and left the place after promising to return shortly.

However, as no one turned up for two days, workshop staff became suspicious and informed the Vellore taluk police, who arrived at the spot and found the wooden logs inside the van.

Police then informed the Forest department officials about the seizure and handed over the recovered red sanders to them. Forest department officials are ascertaining why the vehicle, which has a Vellore registration number, was abandoned. As part of the process to identify those behind the incident, they interrogated the workshop staff on Tuesday.

A rare kind of sandalwood, red sanders is endemic to India. The Foreign Trade Policy of India doesn’t allow its export. This ban, coupled with its high demand especially in the international market, made illegal trade of red sanders rampant in states where it is found like AP, Karnataka and TN.