ED sleuths in JK foil bid to smuggle banned forest products

Sleuths of the Jammu and Kashmir Excise Department today foiled a bid to smuggle rare and highly-valuable banned forest products after a huge quantity of them were seized at the Lakhanpur toll post in Kathua district.
A vehicle from Srinagar on its way to Batala belt in Punjab was stopped at the Lakhanpur toll post for assessment of the goods, Deputy Excise Commissioner Rajesh Sharma said.
During checking of the vehicle, 31 bags of forest produce, comprising 22 bags of Koad-Kutki (Piccrorhiza Kurroa) (625 kgs), 9 bags of Muskbala (Valeriana sp) (343 kgs) and one packet of Jangli Lahsun (2 kg) were found.

The smugglers had concealed the precious forest products beneath bags of carbon, he said.
The team was duly assisted by a team of forest department headed by Range Officer Munish Gupta, who identified the items as rare & threatened species.