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| The seized red sandalwood at customs office in Guwahati on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Guwahati, March 17: The customs department has got a whiff of a major international racket involved in smuggling of red sanders (red sandalwood) logs from Andhra Pradesh to China and Japan through the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur.
Customs sleuths last evening seized 1,016.6kg of red sanders logs, worth over Rs 15 lakh, from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here.
A source in the customs department said the consignment was believed to be illegally exported to Myanmar through the Moreh border and from there it would have been routed to China or Japan, where it is in great demand.
Red sanders wood is a prohibited item for export.
On the basis of specific information, officials of the anti-smuggling unit of Guwahati customs division seized the logs packed in 26 gunny bags from a private domestic airline at the airport last evening.
“The consignment was booked by a person named David in New Delhi yesterday and its intended recipient was Sunil Singh of Imphal. We are trying to track down the duo in order to bust the racket,” the source said.
“We have registered a case in this connection and investigation is on,” he added.
This is for the first time that the item was seized from an air cargo.
According to the source, red sanders is believed to be used as a coolant in nuclear reactors, which is perhaps why the South East Asian nations are a preferred destination for the wood.
“The wood is also used in Japan to make a musical instrument called samosin, which is presented to newlywed couples,” he said.
The customs department will also investigate whether the smuggling was carried out with the knowledge and connivance of the airline staff.
“We are going to serve a notice to the airline because there was negligence on its part,” the source added.