Sandalwood worth over Rs 15 lakh was recovered during a joint raid by police and forest officials from an abandoned house near Bhimpur under the Garabandh police limits in Gajapati district on Sunday.
Though no person has been arrested in this connection, police suspected involvement of intra-State mafias in sandalwood smuggling in the district.
According to reports, a special team of police and forest officials had prepared a blueprint for the raid acting on a tipoff about smuggling of sandalwood a month ago.
During the raid, the officials recovered 18 pieces of red sandalwood that weighed around 6.60 quintals and is valued at over Rs 15 lakh.The seized sandalwood that was stored in an abandoned house at Bhimpur was estimated to be around Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh in the international market.
However, locals have questioned how the sandalwood was brought from the Labanyagad jungle to the village without the knowledge of local forest officials. It is suspected that some officials are having a nexus with the sandalwood mafia.
Only a high-level probe can reveal the truth, the locals said. Notably, red sandalwood is in high demand in the international market due to its medicinal properties.
