3 sandalwood trees smuggled from forest department quarters

COIMBATORE: Three sandalwood trees were axed and smuggled by unidentified miscreants from the premises of staff quarters of forest department at Marudhamalai foothills on early Friday morning.
The smuggling took place when some forest guard of the Marudhamalai beat were on leave and others had gone to chase away a wild elephant from the Bharathiar University premises to the reserve forest.
Only women and children were sleeping in the four staff quarters when the miscreants entered the premises and felled the sandalwood trees.
The incident came to light when the forest guards returned from the Bharathiar University on early Friday morning.
They immediately informed forest range officer Palaniraja who visited the spot. A seven-member team led by the range officer has been formed to trace the sandalwood smugglers.
“We will not approach police as the smuggling took place inside the forest. We have formed a team to nab the smugglers,” Palaniraja said.
He said the miscreants had used ordinary saw to cut the trees. “We checked the CCTV footage collected from various commercial establishments on Marudhamalai Road. But we could not find anyone. However, we have deputed a night patrol team in the area to prevent smuggling,” he added.
Earlier, sandalwood smugglers had targeted residential areas such as Ram Nagar, Saibaba Colony and Kovaipudur. A few months ago, the Saibaba Colony police arrested a gang who were involved in smuggling red sanders in Andhra Pradesh. Following the arrest, the sandalwood smuggling was controlled in the city.