Divisional forest officers of Saranda and Jamshedpur jointly seized a consignment of wooden sleepers from a Jamshedpur-bound passenger bus at Hata under Potka thana area on Sunday morning.
The bus, which was coming from Kiriburu in West Singhbhum, bordering Keonjhar district of Odisha, was filled with passengers while a team of police and forest department, acting on a tip off, stopped the vehicle at Hata and asked the passengers to vacate it. The bus was on its way to Jamshedpur.
During the raid, divisional forest officer (DFO), Saranda, Rajnish Kumar in West Singhbhum and DFO, Jamshedpur, Abhishek Kumar were present along with the Potka police at the spot.
According to sources, six pieces of wooden sleepers were kept on the roof of the bus. The raiding team seized the bus after evacuating the passengers. The team also arrested the driver and conductor for carrying out the illegal business of smuggling woods.
DFO, Abhijit Kumar said in all 100 sq ft of wooden sleepers made out of saal wood were seized from the bus.
"It is a major achievement for us. We are working to unearth the racket. For making wooden sleeper of 100 sq ft, the culprits might have felled several trees. Moreover, such wooden sleepers were being carried in the bus on a regular way," said the DFO Abhishek.
