Vessel recalled from Malaysia,10 tonnes of red sanders seized

The Customs department has seized nearly 10 tonnes of red sandalwood worth Rs 1 crore from a vessel which was recalled from Malaysia to Adani Port in Mundra town of Kutch district on Wednesday.

Customs officials said the consignment was being smuggled out of the country labeled as decorative articles made of Plaster of Paris (PoP).

They said the supplier and the shipping agent are yet to be traced.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the vessel has links with a sandalwood consignment seized from a truck at Mundra on November 16. The consignment seized from the truck was around 16 tonnes. The material had come from Rajasthan via road. Though both consignments had different destinations Dubai and Malaysia their source was Rajasthan, said a source in the Customs department,adding that usually,such consignments come from Rasjasthan in good trains.

The recalling of this vessel has again underlined the fact that sandalwood smuggling from major ports of Gujarat has become a regular affair.

In October,the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had recalled a container,carrying sandalwood worth Rs 5 crore,from Dubai to Adani Port.

In the last two years,over 200 tonnes of sandalwood worth more than Rs 200 crore have been seized from various port cities of Saurashtra.

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