ANANTAPUR: In a major breakthrough, police cracked down on a sandalwood smuggling gang and seized a sandal oil factory at Basavanapalli in Amarapuram mandal. Sandalwood worth Rs 1.27 crore and 16 litres of pure concentrated sandalwood oil were seized from the factory.
The oil costs Rs 1 lakh in the national market and is in huge demand in foreign countries. Though this has been going on for the past 25 years, it is for the first time that such an activity has been busted.
District SP Dr. Fakeerappa Kaginelli launched a prompt plan of action on getting information from Kerala police about large-scale smuggling activities in the region. Three sandalwood oil industries were set up by Keralites in Madakasira area closer to Karnataka borders as it would facilitate smuggling of sandalwood logs from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Working on a tip-off, a police team comprising Penukonda DSP N. Ramya, CI K.Sreeram and local forest officials raided United Oil Industry at Basavanapalli under Amarapuram police station limits on Saturday. They found 3,983 kgs of sandalwood dumped underground in the factory. They were all cut from reserved forests.
Kaginelli said that at least 16 litres of concentrated sandalwood oil was seized when it was to be transported.
Anantapur DFO Kripakar said there would be a full-fledged probe into the involvement of local forest officials.
Police arrested supervisor A Krishna and launched a hunt for Sankesh Abdul Rehmanm, the factory owner and his closeaide K.P. Md.Kutti from Cheruvallur in Malappuram district.
