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Craze for red sanders gets bigger by the year

Red sanders are in huge demand in the international market, mainly China.

Chennai: Red sanders joined the customs department's list of seized items, while star tortoise smuggling was completely stopped at Chennai airport in 2013.

However, the good news is that the recent arrest of four people in Andhra Pradesh would, for the time being, cut the channel for red sanders smuggling. The dying trees are mainly seen in the Tirupati forests.

Red sanders, an endangered species in India, are in huge demand in the international market, mainly China.

It is used for making handicraft items, furniture, perfume and even medicines. The red wood is mainly smuggled to Malaysia, Singapore and Colombo from Chennai.

According to a customs source, a kg of red sanders costs Rs 1,000 in the international market.

Last year alone, the officials at seaports in Chennai seized 25 tonnes of red sanders, which was worth Rs 2.5 crore. At the city airport, 560 kg of red sanders was seized from 13 Indian and six Chinese passengers in 2013.

"In 2012, the city airport seized Rs 1.04 crore worth of coloured fish, star tortoise and a few other items, while in 2013, red sanders replaced the star tortoise.

The year 2013 also saw the capture of Rs 1 crore worth of coloured fish, peacock feathers and snake skins," the source added.

According to customs statistics, the city airport saw only a slight increase in narcotics seizure at 12 cases, worth Rs 16.5 crore in 2013, against 11 cases, worth Rs 6.53 crore, in 2012, while seizing electronic goods showed a slight decrease as only Rs 82 lakh worth goods were seized in 2013, compared to the Rs 90 lakh worth of goods seized in 2012.

"Gold got main importance last year, as several import restrictions and high prices led to increase in smuggling of the yellow metal. The other development was seizure of red sanders meant for exports," said a customs official at the seaport.

He added that the department faced some issues in Central excise sealed containers.

"The containers had to go to Madhavaram for seal verification and since we suffer from staff shortage, a lot of people misused the system and tampered with the seal. But now with the Central government opening a recruitment process, we hope things will get better in the coming days," he added. The customs department was facing 40 per cent manpower shortage and on December 18, the government approved new appointments.

"The recruitment process will take nearly two years to complete, but then, we will continue to keep a strict vigil at the airport and seaports with the existing staff," the official added.

( Source : dc )
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