Alipurduar: The Jaldapara National Park authorities have busted a well-organised inter-state Catechu (Khair) timber smuggling racket, arresting six persons during a late-night operation conducted by the South Range forest team.
Acting on specific intelligence developed over the past few days, the South Range team intercepted two vehicles at Putimari More around 3 am on Friday. The seized vehicles included a large canter truck loaded with Khair logs and a Maruti Swift Dzire sedan suspected to be escorting the illegal consignment.
A substantial quantity of Khair timber was recovered during the operation. Preliminary investigations indicate that the accused are part of an organised inter-state smuggling network operating across multiple states, including Assam, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar, with possible linkages along the India-Bangladesh border.
The arrested accused have been identified as Yash Pal (53) and Rohit (23) of Solan district, Himachal Pradesh; Md Sohel (31) and Sohel Rana (24) of Cooch Behar; Swapan Das (34) of Jalpaiguri district; and Monu Kumar (25) of Sitamarhi district, Bihar.
Divisional Forest officer of Jaldapara Forest Division, Parveen Kaswan, said both vehicles involved in the offence have been seized and legal proceedings initiated under relevant forest and wildlife protection laws. “All accused were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Alipurduar. Further investigation is underway to identify other members and linkages of the smuggling network,” he added.