Red sanders wood worth Rs 4.5 crore seized from Mumbai port

Officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have busted a red sanders smuggling racket and seized wood worth Rs 4.5 crore at Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai on Thursday. Red sanders is a highly valuable variety of sandalwood and its export is prohibited. The racket was busted after DRI received a tip off that a consignment of red sanders is being exported to Malaysia via Nhava Sheva. The container in which the wood was being shipped was identified and examined. In the export documents, the consignment was registered as 648 cartons of polyester yarn weighing 18.522 metric tonnes. When DRI officials examined the consignment, they found that 9,040 kg of red sanders was hidden inside it. To escape recognition, the accused had used colour (textured yarn of polyester) and rice bags. The rice bags were used to make up for the total weight that was declared in the export documents. Red sanders, endemic to the Seshachalam forests of Andhra Pradesh, is an endangered species listed in Appendix-II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora & Fauna (CITES). Red sanders has a great demand in the East Asian countries like China and Japan for its uses in furniture and traditional medicines.