Three caught trying to smuggle 127kg red sandalwood to Hong Kong

New Delhi: Three men were caught trying to allegedly smuggle 127kg of red sandalwood to Hong Kong from Delhi on Saturday. While two of the men were caught at the

New Delhi: Three men were caught trying to allegedly smuggle 127kg of red sandalwood to Hong Kong from Delhi on Saturday. While two of the men were caught at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as they checked-in two bags full of sandalwood, the third, who had checked-in at Shivaji Stadium Metro station, was caught when his name and movements was revealed by his two associates caught at the airport.

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Assistant inspector general, CISF, Hemendra Singh said “Around 9.45pm on Saturday, based on passenger profiling, our men from the surveillance and intelligence wing zeroed in on two passengers who were spotted in the departure area of Delhi airport’s terminal 3.”

“The duo was asked to cooperate for a thorough checking, and they were taken to the random checking point along with their two trolley bags. During x-ray screening of their bags, some suspicions images were spotted. When the bags were opened, we recovered red sandalwood logs wrapped in polythene covers,” Singh said.

He said the two passengers were later identified as Deepak Singh and Shekhar Sharma, both Indian nationals, who were scheduled to board a flight to Hong Kong. “Upon enquiry, both passengers revealed that they had checked-in two more bags containing red sandalwood at Shivaji Metro Station as their third associate Jitender Ahalawat was also travelling with them in the same flight. They said the third man checked-in through the Metro station to avoid being caught by the customs. On their input, Ahalawat was also intercepted as he reached the airport and was logs of red sandalwood were recovered from his bags,” Singh said.

He added that the amount of red sandalwood seized weighed 127kg. “All three men with the recovered woods were handed over to the customs for further probe,” he said.