A consignment of red sandalwood valued at Rs.4.4 crore was Monday seized from a vehicle in Bihar's Araria district and the driver and helper detained.
The consignment, brought from Andhra Pradesh to Bihar via Delhi, was being taken to Kolkata for its final destination -- South Korea. "We seized 11,000 kg of red sandalwood," officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said.
Following interrogation, the two men who were detained revealed they had dumped another red sandalwood consignment at the Kolkata port.
"Subsequently, the DRI team seized 8,000 kg red sandalwood valued Rs.3.2 crore from the port Monday," the officials said.
Incidentally, a red sandalwood consignment valued at Rs.1.36 crore fell in the DRI net in Motipur in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district in December 2013.