Red sandalwood logs worth Rs 40 lakh have been seized from a house in a village in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor District.
Acting on specific intelligence, officials of the Palamaneru forest department raided the house of a man identified as Bhaskar Reddy in Alapalli Kothuru village on Monday. "The team seized 144 A-grade red sandalwood logs worth Rs 40 lakh," said an official.
"Reddy is on the run. Efforts are on to trace him," the official added.
Andhra Pradesh has been cracking down on the illegal trade of red sandalwood, a species that is native and endemic to the state's forests. The wood is highly sought after internationally, particularly in countries like China and Japan, where it is used for furniture, carvings, and traditional medicines. This high demand has fuelled a multi-crore smuggling industry.
