Alertness of Kasargod district collector, staff lead to major sandalwood haul

The alertness of the Kasargod district collector and his staff led to the seizure of 853-kilogram sandalwood, worth over Rs 2 crore, on Tuesday morning.

On hearing some loud noise from a house close to district collector Sajith Babu's residence at Nayanmarmoola during the early hours of Tuesday, the collector's driver and gunman went to the spot. Three men were seen loading sacks in a truck. On seeing them collector's staff the three fled the spot. They immediately alerted the collector and Babu also reached the spot.

On further search at the spot it was found that sacks containing sandal logs were being loaded in a secret chamber in the truck. Apart from the district collector, houses of district police chief and judicial offers were also situated in the locality.

The district collector said that it was a generally a quite area and hence the loud noise from the house became noticed.

Divisional forest officer P K Anoopkumar told DH that 853-kilogram sandal logs in 31 sacks were recovered from the spot and its value was estimated to be over Rs. 2 crore. Apart from the truck, three cars were also seized from the spot. It was suspected to be collected from various parts of the state and being transported to Andhra Pradesh.

The seizure was made from the house of one Abdul Khader, who was accused in a sandalwood case in 2013. He was suspected to be among the three who fled the spot. A search was on for them, Anoopkumar said.