The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday foiled yet another attempt of smuggling of red sanders from Mundra port in Kutch district and seized 11.7 tons of prohibited consignment whose value is said to be over Rs5 crore in the international market. This is the third case of red sanders smuggling in the past two months.
DRI sources said that based on specific intelligence they inspected a container that arrived from Noida and found the banned wooden logs. They said in the export documents the container had been declared officially to be carrying tractor parts to be shipped to Malaysia.
Officials said that this is the third instance of smuggling, which has been busted. All the three consignments were going to be smuggled to Hong Kong and Malaysia. In one case, the logs were misdeclared as brass builder and iron builder hardware. Due to prohibition on export of red sanders, the smuggling of this endangered species is rampant as it is in high demand in countries like China, Japan and other Asian nations.
The red sanders or sandalwood is used in making cosmetics and medicinal products. According to DRI officials, a tonne of red sanders costs minimum of Rs 50 lakh in the international market.
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