Vashi resident held by Customs in Rs 15 crore red sanders smuggling case

Customs officials have arrested a Vashi resident for his alleged involvement in trying to export red sandalwood worth Rs 15 crore. The customs officials had received intercepted a consignment having over 15000 kilograms of red sandalwood which was meant to be smuggled to UAE.

The arrested person has been identified as Sanjay Shinde (41).

According to the customs, based on input received that red sanders wood logs were being attempted to be smuggled out of India through Nhava Sheva port, the customs officials on December 24 examined a consignment that had entered the port for exportation to Jabel Ali port, UAE.

Examination of the said consignment which was stuffed in 20 feet container in the presence of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau officials, led to the recovery of 15020 kilograms of wood logs of red sandalwood of an estimated value of about Rs 15.02 crore. These logs were stuffed in the container in the guise of cargo as 90 ml Empty Glass Bottles. Since there is a prohibition on the export of red sanders in India, the said wood logs were seized, officials said.

"Our probe has revealed that the said consignment of red sanders had arrived from Andhra Pradesh and Shinde was the main person behind this smuggling. Shine was summoned for questioning and his statement was recorded after which he was placed under arrest on Friday. He is not cooperating in the investigation," said a customs official.

"My client had only collected delivery orders and he had no knowledge about trailer containing red sanders," said Shinde's defence advocate Ravi Hirani.

Speaking about the line of investigation in the case, another customs official said, "We are probing who was the main supplier of red sanders, who was supposed to receive the said consignment abroad and if Shinde had been doing this illegal export in the past."