Kerala teams nabs sandalwood smugglers from AP

Kochi, May 19 (UNI) In a major breakthrough, two wanted sandalwood smugglers were nabbed by an undercover team of the state forest department and police from Madakassira in Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh early hours of today, Kerala Forest Minister Binoy Viswom said.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Viswom said the two, identified as Ashique Babu and his brother and partner Abdul Nasser from Malappuram, had shifted their operations to Andhra Pradesh some years ago after their illegal factory by the name of Royal Perfumery in Palakkad district of Kerala had been closed down.

A 21-member Kerala forest and police team, led by Divisional Forest Officer, Marayoor, Mahesh Kumar, carried out the operation this morning.

The Kerala forest officials had got a tip-off about the duo's operations after the seizure of one sandalwood-loaded jeep which was being smuggled out of the state recently.

Mr Viswom said the two were nabbed from the premises of their factory, United Oil Industries, at Madakassira.

As the Kerala team was dressed in mufti, the local police, which initially did not know about the Kerala team's operation tried to stop the arrest. However, the local police later cooperated with the Kerala officials after being apprised of the team's purpose, Mr Viswom said.

The two accused were being brought back to Kerala, where they are wanted in several cases of sandalwood smuggling, the minister added.

Declaring the LDF Government's commitment to halt the activities of the forest mafia, Mr Viswom said the illegal cutting of sandalwood trees had been checked to a large extent in the last one year.

The government had declared about 50,000 acres as reserve forest in the last one year, an increase of three per cent forest land. The declaration of ''Neelakurunji Sanctuary'' as a reserve forest had dealt a severe blow to encroachers and 'ganja' cultivators, he added.

Stating that inter-state cooperation to check the forest mafia was agreed upon at a meeting of the southern states' Forest Ministers in Thiruvananthapuram in November last year, Mr Viswom said the officials of Kerala and Tamil Nadu would meet in Chennai later this month to discuss launching of joint operations against the mafia.

Asked about the ongoing demolition drive against encroachers in Munnar, Mr Viswom said a National Remote Sensing Agency survey was on to ascertain the land encroached upon by the Tata Group in Munnar. Action would be taken against the group after the receipt of the report.

He said the government would act sternly against any attempts by the forest mafia or resort owners to alienate lands distributed to landless tribals by the government.

UNI