NEW DELHI: Delhi Police today claimed to have busted a gang of red sandalwood smugglers with the arrest of two of its members and recovery of more than five ton of costly wood.
The accused have been identified as Mohd Asif and Mohd Farooq. They were arrested by the staff of Geeta Colony Police Station on Monday.
Acting on a tip off that an auto loaded with banned red sandalwood was coming towards Geeta Colony, a police team laid a trap near Shamshan Ghat, Pusta road for comprehensive checking of vehicles.
"During the checking, an auto was found loaded with 440 kg of red sandalwood which is banned for carrying from one state to another. A case under appropriate sections of Forest Act was registered at Geeta Colony Police Station," said DCP (East) Ajay Kumar.
During interrogation, one of the accused revealed that he used to supply this sandalwood for a person whom he identified as Cheena, is a resident of Nepal. The gang used to supply sandalwood in Noida and UP opon Cheena's direction.
"On the instance of Mohd Asif, raids were conducted at a godown situated at Swaroop nagar industrial area where 2,823 kg of sandalwood was recovered. Another raid was conducted at Sultanpuri from where co-accused Mohd Farooq was arrested and 2,120 kg of sandalwood recovered," he added.
Further investigations are in progress and efforts are being made to apprehend the remaining accused.