Forest Deptt seizes sandalwood worth Rs 6-7 lakh at Sahajpur

 

 

Jabalpur Forest Department has recovered sandalwood worth Rs 6-7 lakh on Saturday. Jabalpur Ranger Apoorva Prakhar Sharma on Saturday learnt that an Omni van transporting sandalwood was approaching towards Sahajpur. Sharma immediately deployed his staff for checking at Sahajpur. During checking, the staff noticed a white van approaching towards the check-post, they tried to stop it, but the driver did not stop the vehicle. The staff chased the van and reached village Barkheda near Sahajpur where the road was blocked and the accused escaped after locking the van. The staff approached the villagers to know whereabouts of the accused and with villagers’ support, they caught two accused from Barkheda village.

 

During inspection of the van, staff found 200 kgs sandalwood worth around Rs 6-7 lakh, packed in five sacks. Further investigation is still on as the accused were being interrogated to know about local connections. The accused revealed that they carried the sandalwood from Gotegaon. Ranger Sharma said that “We are interrogating the arrested accused to find out where they were headed, whom the consignment belonged to and who all are involved in the smuggling of the prohibited item.” With the understanding and planned action of Ranger Sharma, both the accused were arrested with the consignment. It was the first incident in which sandalwood was seized in Jabalpur Forest Division. Those who played important role in the successful mission included Ranger Apoorva Prakhar Sharma from Jabalpur (Additional Charge, Shahpura) and Rajendra Grewal, Utkarsh Mishra, Neeraj Bharil and other staff.