One held with red sanders worth Rs.18 lakh in Bengal

The Border Security Force on Monday apprehended a man in West Bengal and seized red sanders wood worth nearly Rs.18 lakh from his possession while it was being smuggled to Bangladesh.

The seizure was made during a special operation by the BSF troopers in North 24 Parganas district.

"Acting on intelligence inputs of red sanders being smuggled into Bangladesh, we launched a special operation during which we apprehended a man and seized 298 kg of the wood worth Rs.18 lakh from him," said a BSF officer.

The accused Aktarul Dalal, 34, a resident of Hakimpur in the district, was handed over to police while the seized wood has been sent to the forest department for further action.

Believed to have aphrodisiac qualities, the wood is a rare and valued item for traditional medicines and woodcraft across China, Myanmar, Japan and east Asia.