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One accused person involved in sandalwood smuggling arrested.
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8 logs weighing 571.400 kg Red sandalwood recovered.
I. INTRODUCTION:-
The police team of STF Crime Branch has been successful in locating and effecting the arrest of accused Amit Verma @ Boby, S/o Late Sh. Ram Swarup, R/o 723/1, Punjabi Para, Shiv Mandir Road, Siliguri, Distt. Darjeeling, West Bengal who is involved in the smuggling of sandalwood from Southern states to other parts of country and also outside the country and recovered total 8 logs of Red Sandalwood weighing about 571.400 Kg .
II. INCIDENT:-
On 03.06.2019, a secret information was received by HC Sunil Kumar in the office of STF/Crime Branch that at Khasra No. 599,600 & 601, Village Asola, Delhi illegal Red Sandalwood were lying in a godown taken on rent by the accused. On this information, a raiding party consisting of Insp Jatan Singh, ASI Shiv Kumar, ASI Pramod Singh, HC Sunil Kumar, HC Dharamvir Singh, Const. Shashi Kant and Const. Harish under the supervision of ACP/STF Sh. Pankaj Singh. The team laid a trap near Khasra No. 599,600 & 601, Village Asola, Delhi and at the instance of the
informer, the above said accused was apprehended at about 07:00 PM on 03.06.2019 and at the instance of the accused from the godown which was taken on rent by the accused, 8 logs were recovered from the godown which were concealed under the scrap of clothes. To identify the recovered logs, a Wildlife Inspector was called on the spot, who identified the recovered logs as Red Sanders (Pterocarpus Santalinus) and are of superior quality. Total number of Red Sandalwood logs were found to be 8 and each log was measured and weighed at the spot. Total weight of 8 logs was found to be around 571.400 kg and the cost of recovered illegal Red Sandalwood is around 50 lakhs (approximately) and Rs. 2 Crores (approximately) in the International/Chinese market. Accordingly, a case vide FIR No 141/19, u/s 379/411 IPC & 2/33/42/52/64 Indian Forest Act was registered and the accused person was arrested.
III. MODUS OPERANDI:-
The accused Amit Verma @ Boby has disclosed that he along with his other associate are smuggling the illegal Red Sandalwood from Karnataka with the help of one smuggler who is a resident of Karnataka. The illegal Red Sandalwood smuggled from Karnataka to Delhi in trucks concealing with the help of scrap of clothes and after coming the same was delivered to the Delhi based receivers. Two Nepal Nationals are the main receivers of the illegal Red Sandalwood in Delhi & NCR who further smuggle them to China and other countries. Efforts are being made to trace them.
IV. PROFILE OF THE ACCUSED & INTERROGATION :-
Accused Amit Verma @ Boby, S/o Late Sh. Ram Swarup, R/o 723/1, Punjabi Para, Shiv Mandir Road, Siliguri, Darjeeling, West Bengal, Age-41 years. He has studied upto 10 th class and after the death of his father and family problems, he is doing business of shoes in Siliguri. Due to loss in business, he came to Delhi and started doing business of illegal Red Sandalwood along with his associate who is a resident of Noida (UP). The accused revealed that his cousin brother and neighbour at Siliguri namely Deepak Verma & one of his another cousin brother namely Neeraj Sehgal are also involved in Red Sandalwood smuggling, who have been earlier arrested by the STF team of Crime Branch in September, 2018. So, he got an idea of making easy money by smuggling Red Sandalwood.
V. RECOVERY :-
1. Total 8 logs of Red Sandalwood weighing around 571.400 kg.
Further investigation is in progress.
Dr. G. Ram Gopal Naik
Dy Commissioner of Police
Crime Branch, STARS & STF
