25 kg sandalwood recovered at airport, 2 Sudanese arrested

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has recovered 25 kg of sandalwood chips from the luggage of two Sudanese nationals at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, following which the duo was arrested, an official said on Wednesday. The recovery was made on Tuesday during the random checking of passengers based on their profiling, the official said.

"The two Sudanese nationals were stopped for a security check at the Mumbai airport's Gate number 6 at Terminal 2. When their luggage was checked, the CISF personnel found around 25 kg of sandalwood chips kept inside," he said. The duo was scheduled to board an Ethiopian Airways flight ET-641. They were on their way to Adis Ababa with the smuggled chips, the official said.

Since the last one month, the CISF has foiled at least four attempts of smuggling of the sandalwood by Sudanese nationals, he added. According to the official, in four different cases of sandalwood smuggling, the CISF have seized at least 129 kg of sandalwood, worth around Rs 15 lakh, at the city airport and arrested five persons over the last one month.

Last month, the crime branch of the Mumbai police had raided godowns in western suburbs and seized around 1.40 tonnes of sandalwood worth Rs 8 crore..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)