Police arrest five smugglers; seize red sanders worth 26.7 million rupees in Andhra Pradesh

Kadappa, August 25 (ANI): Police arrested five red sandalwood smugglers and seized 171 logs, worth 26.7 million rupees, in Kadappa district of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday (August 25). Kadappa Superintendent of Police, Naveen Gulati, said they sought help of forest officials in nabbing the smugglers. Andhra Pradesh is home to stocks of red sandalwood, whose felling, transport and sale is prohibited in India but which is highly prized for furniture manufacturing in China and Japan. Last year state authorities created a task force comprising police and forest officers to crack down on the smuggling and had arrested more than 500 people by the end of 2014. A tonne of the rare red sandalwood is priced up to 2 million rupees ($306,446) in the international market. It has been classified as an endangered tree in India.