Police seize 1,000 litre cedar oil

The forest department on Friday seized 1,000-litre oil of cedar tree with the help of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Rajgiri Reserve Forest area in Kullu district, raising serious questions about security in the forest.

The forest department on Friday seized 1,000-litre oil of cedar tree with the help of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Rajgiri Reserve Forest area in Kullu district, raising serious questions about security in the forest.

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According to sources, miscreants had installed a temporary kiln in the middle of the forest to extract oil from cedar trees.

A CID team, along with forest officials, seized five drums each of 200-litre capacity and six empty drums from the spot, said sources.

Confirming the development, divisional forest officer, Parwati range, Sandeep Sharma said: "Following a tip-off, we raided the area and recovered the illicit cedar oil costing around Rs 6 lakh and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in this regard. The investigation is on."