Sandalwood smugglers have struck again in Coimbatore
Two sandalwood trees have been chopped in the Corporation's VOC park in Coimbatore on Tuesday night. (Photo: DC/File)
Coimbatore:Sandalwood smugglers have struck again in Coimbatore. Two full-grown sandalwood trees were cut down and taken away from the VOC park maintained by the Coimbatore corporation on Tuesday night.
The Coimbatore city, dotted with sandalwood trees, has been losing the fragrant woods to marauding smugglers, with an alarming frequency. In May this year, two sandalwood trees including one near the collector’s bungalow were axed.
When a group of walkers came inside the VOC park on Wednesday morning, they were shocked to find that two sandalwood trees had been chopped and smuggled away. One of the trees was 25 years old and had grown to a height of 22feet height, while the other tree was a decade-old and 16 feet tall.
The 4.5 acre park lined with shady trees has two entrance gates, guarded by security guard Raja, 54, at night. Besides, nine dogs have been kept inside the park to keep guard. According to the security guard, Raja, the dogs at the park barked furiously around 2 a.m on Wednesday.
However, he did not hear any noise of the trees being cut down. The police, however, said that the smugglers would have used mechanised blades to chop down the tree. And it would have taken at least two hours for cutting down the two huge trees. Police suspect that the security guard and corporation workers may have helped the sandalwood smugglers. “Without help from the guards, it is not an easy task to smuggle away the two trees from the VOC park,” a police officer said.
The Race course police have registered the case and alerted the forest officials about the latest case of sandalwood smuggling. Investigation are on.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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