Bangiriposi: In two different incidents, Forest department officials Saturday seized a wood-laden pick-up van at Jharpokharia-Sarasakana road near Beat area under Bangiriposi forest range in Mayurbhanj district. In another incident, the officials also seized Simili wood sheet laden auto near Matiabeda ashram of Rajaloka area.
The officials have arrested as many as six people during seizure.
In the first incident, according to the forest officials, acting on a tip-off about the smuggling of wood, a team led by forest official Tapan Kumar Das conducted a surprise raid leading to the arrest of the wood peddlers at Jharpokharia-Sarasakana road near Beat.
The officials seized eight neem trunks and five kayim trunks worth more than Rs 70 thousand from their possession.
The accused have been identified as Sriram Majhi of Murunia village, Kartik Patra of Kapadihi village, Gopinath Bindhani and Manoranjan Munda.
Meanwhile, in the second incident, forest officials seized 33 wood sheets near Matiabeda ashram of Rajaloka area.
The accused have been identified as Bijay Patra and Jogeswar Patra of Saragada village.
Additional forest officer Sailendra Das and foresters Khageswar Sethi, Ankur Mallick, Rajat Mohanty, Pramila Sweta were also present during the raid.
Two cases (no. 109/2019 and 110/2019) have also been registered and the accused will be soon forwarded to court, a forest official said.
Further investigation is underway.
PNN