Sivasagar Forest Department seized wood-laden truck near Demow

Our Correspondent

Sivasagar: Efforts are on to release the seized truck laden with wood from Halwating Forest Beat Office. Sivasagar Forest Department seized the wood-laden truck bearing registration number AS 01-KC-9020 at NH-37 near Demow on Tuesday.

However, the driver and the handyman of the vehicle managed to escape. The vehicle, along with the wood, was later handed over to Halwating Forest Beat Office for further proceedings.

According to sources, the consignment was being transported from Arunachal Pradesh. It was seized in Demow along NH 37. According to sources, the consignment belongs to a local businessman of the Doomdoma area who has been doing timber business in both Assam and Arunachal.

There are allegations that a strong network of timber smugglers has been operating in the Sivasagar district. Rupraj Boruah, president of Parivesh Suraksha Samiti, Sivasagar district committee, who is vocal against such illegal trade, alleged that the transit pass and levy receipts were repeatedly used by the smugglers to transport their consignments from Arunachal to their destination in nexus with some political leaders and forest officials.

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