Officers of the Mumbai Crime Branch have arrested three men who were allegedly smuggling prohibited red sandalwood worth Rs 7.5 crore.
Officers of the Mumbai Crime Branch have arrested three men who were allegedly smuggling prohibited red sandalwood worth Rs 7.5 crore.
Those accused trio have been identified as Asgar Ismail Shaikh (49), Ali Shantaram Shaikh (32) and Wajid Abbas Ansari (32) and the police believe that the accused were smuggling the costly wood from south India to Mumbai.
According to the police, a tip-off given by one of the informers stating that a temp loaded with red sandalwood which is also known as red sanders would reach Santacruz West on Tuesday from south India.
After intercepting this alerting input, unit 9 of the crime branch prepared teams and stopped the vehicle which resulted in the seizure of total 1,556 kilograms of Sandalwood worth Rs 7.5 crore.
Speaking about the seizure, a police officer said, "In this operation, the cops were also accompanied by officials of the forest department. Prima facie is that the sandalwood was smuggled to Mumbai so that it is further transported abroad in the black market for more money. A case has been transferred to Santacruz police station for further investigation and the accused trio has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Indian Forest Act,"
Similarly, the Central Industrial Security Force, CISF personnel, on Monday detected 17 kilograms of Sandalwood from the baggage of a foreign passenger at Mumbai international airport.
The passenger identified as Alzain Mustafa Alzain Salim who was said to be a Sudanese national was flying to Addis Ababa by Ethiopian airlines flight number ET- 641.
Later, the customs and the officials of the Maharashtra Forest Department seized the sandalwood.
Crime Sheet
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Those accused trio have been identified as Asgar Ismail Shaikh (49), Ali Shantaram Shaikh (32) and Wajid Abbas Ansari (32)
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| A tip-off given by one of the informers stating that a temp loaded with red sandalwood which is also known as red sanders would reach Santacruz West on Tuesday |
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