Bhadarwah: Fifteen cedar scants and 11 huge logs of green cedar trees worth lakhs of rupees were recovered from Ghoraka block of Kellar range of Bhadarwah Forest Division, police said Monday.
Reacting to media reports about large scale illegal logging of green cedar trees by forest mafia in connivance with some forest officials, SSP (Doda) Aarif Rishu rushed a police team to Khalu village yesterday, police said.
During search operation, police recovered 15 green scants covered with cedar leaves and 11 huge logs extracted from green cedar trees from compartment 13 in Ghoraka block of Kellar range of Bhadarwah Forest Division, they said.
"No arrest was made as smugglers who were chopping the logs to convert them into scants managed to flee from the spot," they said.
However, police seized scants and the logs and registered a case under section 6 of Forest Act and RPC in Bhadarwah Police Station, they said.
This is the third huge recovery of illegal timber made by police this month and during these operations against forest mafia, 10 smugglers were also arrested, they said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, March 18, 2013, 16:46