Hyderabad: With the arrest of two persons, police have busted an inter-state red sandalwood smuggling racket here and seized 137 kg of the precious wood. The car used for transporting the logs has also been confiscated.
The joint operation was carried out by Special Operations Team, LB Nagar Zone, Rachakonda, along with Hayathnagar police. According to Mahesh Bhagwat, Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, the police acted on a tip-off to carry out the operation.
The accused have been identified as Ravuri Uma Shankar and Chirumamilla Ajith Kumar, both from Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, who were transporting the wood from Nallamalla forest.
According to Police, the kingpin of the racket, Kotesh, is still absconding.
The rare wood is precious and has a huge demand in East Asia and countries like China and Myanmar, where it is used for woodcraft, and also in making traditional medicines.