Maharashtra Forest Department has seized red sandalwood worth Rs 2 crore in adjoining Dhule district, official sources said today.
A truck carrying the expensive sandalwood logs was intercepted on Mumbai-Agra National Highway near here in North Maharashtra yesterday, they said.
Acting on a tip off that a consignment of red sandalwood was being brought to Mumbai from Andhra Pradesh, a team led by Assistant Conservator of Forest J A Patil laid a trap at Laling Ghat toll outpost.
They stopped a truck, in which 422 pieces (weighing 14 tonnes) of the wood were kept hidden under bags of potatoes, cow-dung and fodder. The seized sandalwood is worth Rs 2 crore, the sources added.
The truck driver, Manohar Kannuarswami and cleaner Mariappan Isaswami Nada, residents of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, were arrested and the vehicle was impounded, they said.
The wood, which is used for medicinal, cosmetics and religious purposes, among others, has high demand in China, Japan and Gulf countries, the sources said.
