Timber worth Rs 50 lakh seized : Timber was on its way to Calcutta from Northeast

 

TT Correspondent   |   Siliguri/ Malda   |   23.02.23 : Foresters seized an illegal consignment of Burmese teak worth Rs 50lakh from a truck on the outskirts of Siliguri on Wednesday and arrested the driver.

The timber, they said, was on its way to Calcutta from the Northeast.

The team of Belakoba forest range under Baikunthapur forest division acted on a tip-off and intercepted a container truck on NH27 in the morning.

“The truck was stopped at Panikauri (on the southern outskirts of Siliguri). It was then taken to the forest beat office in Mantadari. As our men searched the vehicle, they found it was loaded with timber,” said a forest official.

The driver, who is from Haryana, was arrested as he could not produce documents to validate the transport of timber.

Preliminary probe revealed that the logs were loaded in Guwahati and were supposed to be delivered to Calcutta.

Over the past few months, foresters have seized several such consignments of illegal timber in the region. Burmese teak, they said, has a huge demand in different parts of India and the Middle East.

Arrested with narcotics

In Malda, officials of Englishbazar police station seized 303 grams of brown sugar (a derivative of heroin) worth Rs 30lakh near the airport gate on Tuesday night.  

Sources said a police team posted at a checkpoint set up on SH10 intercepted Taher Sheikh, 30, of Bamongram-Lalbazar in Kaliachak. As they frisked him, the contraband was found on him. Police filed a case under the NDPS Act.