red sandalwood smuggling

The film "Pushpa 2: The Rise" highlights the lucrative yet illegal red sandalwood trade. This rare wood, native to India, is highly valued for its rich color and medicinal properties, fetching prices up to ₹2,00,000 per kilogram. Rampant smuggling, involving organized criminal networks, poses a significant threat to this precious resource despite conservation efforts and law enforcement interventions.

Forest officials seized red sandalwood logs worth several lakhs stored in a poultry farm in Holalu village, about 5 km from Mandya, on Wednesday night.

A large cache of sandalwood which had cleared the Gujarat waters from Kandla port for Dubai was called back by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Monday.

Vapi GIDC, the second largest industrial hub after Dahej in south Gujarat, has shot into limelight following the exposure of the banned red sandalwood smuggling racket by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday.

In a major operation, a team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) comprising officials from Surat and Ahmedabad busted a red sandalwood smuggling racket on Wednesday.

Yet another major haul of red sanders worth crores this week, the second such seizure in the past one week, indicates that Gurgaon is fast becoming a transit hub for illegal sandalwood trade.

A 44-year-old man was arrested from Delhi on charges of smuggling red sandalwood logs, worth around Rs 50 lakh, police said on Friday.

More than 900 metric tonnes (MT) of red sandalwood, or red sanders, worth around Rs 100 crore, are lying at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP). But as per law, not even a tonne can be sold in the open market.

Nearly seven tonnes of red sandalwood was seized at Shimle in Nepal's Sindupalchowk district while being smuggled to China.

Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans and forest department officials on Saturday raided several villages in Satali gram panchayat of Hasimara in Alipurduar and recovered a huge cache of red sandalwood.

Acting on a tip-off, a DRI team of Patna and Muzaffarpur officials along with an Araria police team intercepted a red sandalwood container bound for South Korea via Kolkata port.

The Jaipur unit of directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) busted an international gang smuggling red sanders and seized 14.5 metric tonnes of the precious sandalwood while they were trying to import it through Mundra Port in Gujarat.