GANDACHARRA, Oct 25 (TIWN): Gandacharra Forest Department officials along with police personnel of Gandacharra Police station raided at Dangabari village area and seized wooden logs of Teak (Shegun) tree and Shorea Robusta (gamai) worth Rs. 5.50 lakhs.

Acting on the information of the secret source Forest Department officials along with police personnel of Gandacharra Police station jointly held a raid at an empty place of Dangabari village area and ceased all the wooden logs from the ground.

Apart from the wooden logs the officials also recovered a sharp weapon which is used for chopping the trees.

Forest officials and the police are suspecting that  a gang of smugglers are engaged in cutting the teak wood logs from the forest area and trespasses it to the neighboring countries in exchange of hefty amounts. Those smugglers were apparently out in jungle for some days for chopping trees and moving the teak logs and were collecting the wooden logs for trespassing, said police.

It is to be mentioned here that the forests across the state are facing serious challenges due to illegal destruction, smuggling of wooden logs and poor management by the concerned department.

Hundreds of tones of teak and other expensive wood are smuggled out to different places within Gandacharra Sub Division and neighboring areas.

According to sources, teak smuggling has gained its momentum during night in the Gandacharra area. Wood smugglers have been selling woods in open market. Organized gangs are illegally procuring logs of woods and smuggling it to the other countries.

Wooden logs of teak and Shorea Robusta is smuggled openly to Bangladesh market by the smugglers. This heavy smuggling is not only a open looter of green gold but has also given birth to other environment hazards like deforestation, soil erosion and loss of habitat for wild animals.