Police have also arrested 71 persons, most of them porters used by traders to smuggle red sandalwood into China, from the Barillachhada jungle in Rithapatha village of Bajhang district. Some among the 71 arrested are traders from Kathmandu, Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and Bajhang, according to police DSP Surya Bahadur KC. [break]
The seized sandalwood and the arrested persons were brought to Chainpur, the district headquarters of Bajhang, by Monday night. It took more than one week for a police team led by Sagar Bohara to spot the place where the red sandalwood was hidden.
Several police teams -- some of them from Mahendranagar, Doti and Nepalgunj -- were deployed to search for red sandalwood smugglers in the last week.
Police say the seized red sandalwood was being smuggled into Tibet of China through the route by the foothills of Saipal Mountain. The logs of red sandalwood, trade of which has been banned internationally, were draped with cloths when they were seized.
Related story
Police arrest two people in possession of red sandalwood
