Six held in Alipurduar for illegal khair wood transport, forest officials crack inter-state network
Based on credible intelligence, a team from the Jaldapara South Range carried out a night-long operation on Thursday. After close monitoring, the officials stopped a canter truck carrying khair wood at Putimari More in Alipurduar town at around 3 am on Friday. A Maruti Swift Dzire, suspected to have been used to guard or guide the consignment, was also intercepted and seized.
According to forest department sources, the operation followed several days of intelligence-led surveillance. Preliminary findings suggest that the seized timber was being moved as part of a coordinated inter-state smuggling operation.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Yash Pal (53) and his son Rohit (23) from Solan district in Himachal Pradesh; Md. Sohel (31) and Sohel Rana (24) from Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district; Swapan Das (34) of Mainaguri in Jalpaiguri district; and Manu Kumar (25) from Sitamarhi district in Bihar.
Officials said the presence of accused from different states points to a wider smuggling network operating across multiple regions, including Assam, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and areas close to the Bangladesh border.
Both vehicles involved in the operation have been confiscated. A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Forest Act and the Wildlife Protection Act. The accused will be produced before the Alipurduar court on Friday, forest officials confirmed.
