The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 14.63 metric tonnes of sandalwood worth Rs 11.70 crore from Ahmedabad’s Inland Container Depot (ICD) on Monday, claiming it was “assorted toiletries” for export.
The export of sandalwood is prohibited and the tree is in high demand for use in cosmetics and medicines. Investigations have revealed the sandalwood logs were meant to be exported to Sharjah in UAE, the DRI said in a press statement.
DRI officials acted on an intelligence report that a shipping container at ICD Sabarmati contained red sander logs, which the exporter had declared as “assorted toiletries” to avoid detection.
When DRI officials scanned the container, they discovered it contained logs rather than toiletries.
The container contained over 800 logs of red sandalwood that were seized under the Customs Act.
Further investigations into the case are being conducted.