Teak smugglers take Siliguri route

TT, 6 Jun 2019, Siliguri: Frequent seizures in and around Siliguri of teakwood transported illegally from Myanmar in the past few months have spurred apprehensions in the Bengal forest department that timber smugglers are trying to revive the "Siliguri" corridor for their operations.

"Since January this year, we have seized Burmese teakwood from different locations along NH31. The seized timber was altogether worth Rs 2 crore. The smugglers had been using trucks to transport the timber to Calcutta and Delhi and in most cases, had tried to conceal the wood with other items," said D.S. Sherpa, the divisional forest officer of the Siliguri social forestry division.

Over 10 trucks used to transport the timber were seized in multiple raids.

According to foresters, Burmese teak is highly expensive and a cubic foot timber is sold at Rs 6,000. The similar quantity of normal teak fetches just Rs 4,000.

"Myanmar teak has good demand in the international market and is mostly used to make furniture. Initial investigation suggests that the timber is being smuggled into In- dia out of Myanmar and then Myanmar teak indicates that sent to west Asian countries timber smuggling rackets havia sea. The frequent hauls of ve again become active in north Bengal and are trying to use the old transit route of Siliguri," a forester said.

The preliminary probe by the forest department revealed the modus operandi of the smugglers.

Once teak trees are felled in Myanmar, logs are taken out of the trunk and floated in rivers and streams which flow close to the India-Myanmar border. "The logs are taken out of water in Nagaland from where the consignments are sent to Calcutta and Delhi by trucks. Usually, other items are loaded over the logs to conceal them," said the forester.

Earlier, smugglers used to transport red sandalwood to China and some countries in southeast Asia through the Siliguri corridor.

The sandalwood would be brought from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and stored at some places in the Dooars before being smuggled into Bhutan or Myanmar.

The red sanders would finally be despatched to China from Bhutan and to southeast Asia from Myanmar.

Intense vigil and interceptions by the forest department and the Sashastra Seema Bal that guards the India-Bhutan border could arrest the red sanders smuggling.