According to circle conservator of forests Rajeeva, following a tip-off on September 19, a team of senior forest officials from Halol was rushed late at night to a secluded area near Baletia in the Kalol taluka, where a truck-load of the khair wood was found. The 10-ton haul was pure catechu sans the barks, and reportedly came from trees around Valsad which were cut illegally.

Assistant conservator of Forest, Halol, P A Vihol and range forest officer M R Patel said that the truck (GTC-5133) and a Suzuki motorcycle (GJ-17-H-68) were also seized. A youth, identified as Mehboob Abdul Razak Darvesh, was also arrested and later released.

Rajeeva said though some bills pertaining to purchase of the wood were shown to the officials by Mehboob, it was suspected that they were bogus. According to the bills, the wood had been purchased from a saw mill in Waghodia.

Other officials whose role was said to be laudable in the seizure included A R Pandey, B L Thakur and B R Waghela, N S Parmar and S B Valand, Rajeeva said, and added that it was probably first time in the recent history that khair wood was siezed here.