Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network—Kundapur (DV)
Kundapur, Jul 7: Shankarnarayana regional forest officers have arrested two persons for their involvement in an illegal tree smuggling racket at Sorikodlu in Ammavasebail police limits. Three other accused are absconding.
The culprits have been identified as Ragavendra Poojary, son of Annappa Poojary, resident of Macchuttu, Vishwanatha Kulal, son of Govinda Kulal, resident of Hombadi Mandadi village, Shekar Poojary, son of Chikka Poojary, resident of Soorikodlu, Shankar Shetty, son of Ananda Shetty, resident of Baluvali, and Naryana Poojary, son of Venkappa Poojary, resident of Rattadi.
It is said that 15 days ago, the accused stole a tree from Sorikodlu Reserve Forest worth about Rs 1.5 lac and after cutting the tree into four pieces, smuggled them to Vishwanath Kulal in Bidkal, during the night. Vishwanath used three pieces for turning and one was kept as is.
Shankarnaryana Regional Forest Officer Brijesh Vinay Kumar held a probe and successfully traced two of the accused in the case. Forest officers also seized four pieces of wood worth 1.5 lac, of which three were turned pieces, and one Bolero pick-up worth Rs 4 lac.
During the raid, forest officer Brijesh Vinay Kumar, Ammavasebail, Halady assistant forest officer Shridhar Gowda, Asha V Ganiga, N R Kamble, Bhaskar K, Ravi, and Manjunath were present.
The accused were produced in court and sent to judicial custody and forest officers are in search of those absconding.