8900 kg of sandalwood worth ₹ 25 crore seized in Agartala

February 26: In a major crackdown, a joint team of the Tripura Forest department, State Police department and Border Security Force (BSF) seized around 8900 kg of sandalwood worth nearly Rs 25 crore on Tuesday evening from Agartala, the capital of Tripura. The huge consignment of sandalwood was seized from a storehouse of a tobacco company in Badharghat area of Agartala.

During search, the joint team seized the huge consignment of sandalwood from the locked store house inside the factory which is closed for last couple of months. The store house was occupied by the ‘DH’ group, which had some investment in the State like in rubber factory and pan masala industry. The storehouse was in an abandoned state after the company stopped functioning six months ago.

The District Forest Officer informed that the seized sandalwood will be sent for identification in the laboratory. If it is proven to be white sandal then the market value will be very high – it may go up to Rs 25 crore.