Sandalwood smuggling racket busted, 1 held in Delhi

Pic courtesy/Twitter/ANI

Delhi police arrested a man on Monday in connection with sandalwood smuggling and seized 571.4 kg of redwood worth around Rs 50 lakh from him in Asola village. The accused has been identified as Amit Verma, a resident of West Bengal. Based on inputs from sources, the STF team laid a trap in Asola Village on June 3 and arrested Verma.

"The godown in Asola was taken on rent by the accused. Eight logs were recovered from the godown. To identify the recovered logs, a wildlife inspector was called on the spot, who identified the recovered logs as red sanders," Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr. G Ram Gopal Naik said. The cost of recovered illegal redwood is around Rs 2 crore in the international market.

Verma has disclosed that he along with his other associates was smuggling the illegal redwood from Karnataka with the help of a local smuggler. The redwood was smuggled from Karnataka to the national capital in trucks concealed inside scraps of clothes. The smuggled goods used to be delivered to Delhi-based clients. Two Nepal nationals are the main receivers of the sandalwood in Delhi and NCR who further smuggled them to China and other countries. Efforts are being made to trace them, Naik said. A case under IPC sections of 141, 19, 379 and 411 and 2, 33, 42, 52 and 64 of Indian Forest Act has been registered against the accused.

Top stories of the day

• Producer, composer held for molesting model at house party in Malad
• Mumbai Crime: Former businessman partner slits man's throat, kills him
• 'He forcibly kissed me on my face, neck before I pushed him off'
• The Dutch mystery: Cops camping in Pune in hunt for Avdhut Shinde
• 'Nair, Topiwala left students vulnerable to harassment'
• Mumbai: INTACH joins fight to save Esplanade
• HC directs MHADA to evacuate and barricade Esplanade Mansion
• 'The Rajghat of Mumbai'
• Vikhe Patil to join BJP, many Congress MLAs likely follow suit
• I will continue to write, says IAS officer Nidhi Chaudhari
• MHT-CET exam: Two top with 100 percentile
• Katrina Kaif on Bharat: It's the best role of my career
• Priyanka Chopra Jonas displays her perfect pins on the red carpet
• Kareena Kapoor: We celebrated women who broke stereotypes
• Sunny Leone to play a lawyer in spy thriller Helen
• Janhvi Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Pooja Hegde sweat it out at gym in Bandra
• Iulia Vantur, Shanaya Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Taapsee Pannu clicked in Bandra
• Super 30 trailer: Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Tiger Shroff laud Hrithik Roshan
• Madhuri Dixit wants to learn a new Kathak form
• Ayushmann Khurrana on IPS Manoj Malviya: He became the prototype of my character
• Deepika Padukone wraps up the shooting of Chhapaak
• Sabyasachi pens down the journey of his friendship with Deepika Padukone
• Rangita Pritish Nandy on Four More Shots Please: May explore friendship, or just one character
• Sushmita Singh: Miss teen 2019 who was told that she was not beautiful
• These old pictures of Salman Khan will take you back in time
• World Environment Day: 9 ways humans are harming the environment
• CR fails in Mumbai-Pune in 2 hr 35 min train trials as problems galore
• World Cup 2019: Rabada calls Kohli 'immature', Virat says he will discuss 'man to man'
• World Cup 2019: It's advantage Virat Kohli and Co against South Africa!
• World Cup 2019: 'Asli' WC begins today as India take on South Africa
• World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli's Team India faces first Test vs South Africa
• World Cup 2019: Vijay Shankar could get nod against South Africa

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates