Bengaluru outskirts becoming a safe transit point for red sanders smuggling, suspect police

The international network once again grabbed attention after the Mahalakshmi Layout police nabbed two men — based on a tipoff — from near Iskon’s Sri Radha Krishna Temple at Rajaji Nagar on Thursday, 13 October. Red sander logs weighing around 11 kilograms were seized from them.

Further investigation revealed that the red sanders were chopped into smaller logs and smuggled into Bengaluru in a pickup truck. The logs were hidden under crates of tomatoes.

The duo, Prajwal and Siddaraju, reportedly confessed to procuring the wood from Devalpura village in Mandya district, some 100 kilometres from Bengaluru.

The police soon learnt that the 11 kilograms of red sanders seized was merely just the tip of the iceberg. The duo told the interrogators of their associates in Tamil Nadu.

Their revelation sent a police team to a village at Hosur in Tamil Nadu, close to the Karnataka border. A raid at a farmhouse literally unearthed 1,400 kilograms of the valuable wood. Police said the logs were buried nearby.

Besides the farmhouse owner Govindaswamy, two of his associates, Lokesh and Devaraju were also arrested, investigators told South First.

Similar modus operandi

Earlier in July 2022, the Byataryanapura police received information of two men loitering around under suspicious circumstances. The police detained them and found 113 kilograms of red sanders in their possession. They were then trying to find buyers.

The men led the investigators to a bigger stock of red sanders, hidden in a dry sump of a farmhouse at  Hesaraghatta, about 18 kilometres northwest of Bengaluru. The police later said 1,693 kilograms of red sanders logs were seized from the farmhouse.

Three others were also arrested in the case. They reportedly told the police the red sanders from Andhra Pradesh were smuggled into the state and stored in safe houses, especially farmhouses on the outskirts. The logs seized were that of more than 40-year-old trees.

The logs are then sold in smaller quantities to those who would ferry the consignments to south Indian seaports. The smugglers largely preferred the sea route due to the risks involved in flying them out of the country, a senior police officer said.

“The Forest Department registers cases whenever red sanders are felled inside the forests. The department, however, could not do much since they have a larger jurisdictional area and lesser manpower,” a superintendent of police said.

Forest officials, too, often detain the smugglers. In June, a mobile squad of the Forest Department flagged down a vehicle transporting vegetables near Kattigenahalli in Hoskote. The vehicle had 560 kilograms of red sanders worth Rs 28 lakh. The logs were hidden under crates of vegetables.

Though the driver and cleaner of the vehicle had fled the scene, police later arrested them. The duo confessed that red sanders were smuggled from Andhra Pradesh.

Kattigenahalli conundrum

‘Halli’ is village in Kannada. Kattigenahalli is a nightmare for the police, officers said. Villagers, mostly belonging to minority communities, would allege harassment to hamper any police inspection of the village.

Police sources said almost all houses in Kattigenahalli stocked timber, which helped smugglers in hiding their contraband.

Still, the police raided the village. A 100-men team under two deputy commissioners and officers from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) descended on the village in January 2019. They arrested a father-son duo, two alleged habitual sandalwood smugglers. The duo had been evading arrest since 2013.

Mole in the force

The five-hour, overnight raid did not yield the desired result. “Some police personnel had leaked the information of the raid to the villagers. But were able to seize Rs 35 lakh in cash, gold jewellery, and nine kilograms of sandalwood,” a senior officer, who was part of the raiding party, said.

Incidentally, the January 2019 raid was the largest police had carried out in recent years.

“Kattigenahalli is not the only hideout,” the officer added. “The smugglers are utilising some of the timber depots on the city outskirts as well.”

The officer, who was previously with the CCB, in a candid admission, suggested that putting an end to smuggling could be almost impossible.

“There are several policemen who are hand-in-gloves with smuggling rackets. They help the smugglers by tipping them off about possible police raids and interceptions,” he said.

A few months ago, a police team attached to the Ramamurthynagar police station was suspended for their alleged links with red sanders smugglers.

The officer further added that red sanders were mostly stored clandestinely in farmhouses on the city outskirts. “They normally choose a safe place which is easily accessible from the ring roads. When the time is conducive enough, they take the logs to Tamil Nadu or Kerala.”

Precious and endangered

Red sanders are endemic to the southern parts of the Eastern Ghats in Kadapa, Chittoor, Kurnool, Nellore and Prakasam districts in Andhra Pradesh. The slow-growing tree has a dark-greyish bark, and its wood is aromatic.

The tree is considered to have therapeutic value and is used in manufacturing cancer drugs and other medicinal products, cosmetics, perfumes, furniture and musical instruments. It is also used to add flavour to alcoholic beverages.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List has included red sanders in its ‘endangered’ category.