TURA: Timber smugglers in Garo Hills are using village roads to avoid patrol teams and the glare of forest officials, North Garo Hills police have said.
Five smugglers, who were arrested on Monday in Kharkutta in the district, told police that they ferried their consignments through villages to avoid detection at Dainadubi.
The police also seized 43 sal logs from two trucks, (ML-07-5784 and AS-01Q-0025), at Mendima Rabha village at around 4 am on Monday.
The drivers and labourers managed to escape. Police seized the trucks along with the logs and handed over to Range Forest officer, Kharkutta for necessary action.The logs were from the Darugre Reserve Forest at Rongjeng in East Garo Hills. The smugglers were trying to cut across Kharkutta in North Garo Hills to reach Assam.
“In this case also, the smugglers felled trees inside the reserve forest and used a village road to come this far before they were caught,” said North Garo Hills police chief Dalton P Marak.
Smuggling of precious timber from Garo Hills to Assam has been rampant for the last one year.
Questions had been raised about the alertness of both police and forest department personnel since timber was being transported through the main routes of Garo Hills without being checked.
A few weeks ago, villagers at Samanda and Chiading area of Jengjal alerted forest officials and helped in intercepting vehicles carrying timber from the Rongrenggre Reserve Forest in Williamnagar.
