The forest department caught five timber smugglers on Wednesday afternoon while several trunks of Khair trees were seized from them. A case has been registered under section 26 of Indian Forest Act against the smugglers.
As per the forest department, four Khair trees were felled in Pathri section of Haridwar Range on November 28. The incident came to light when the forest officials reached the place while patrolling.
Seeing the forest team approaching, those who felled the trees fled. The timbers were seized while the forest officials started searching for them with a sniffer dog. The accused have been identified as Tanvir, resident of village Kunhari of laksar tehsil, while the four others have been identified as Arvind, Kapil, Dinesh and Vipin, all from Shivgarh of Pathri area. Forest officials said that Tanvir is the main accused who had tasked Dinesh to fell four Khair trees standing in the reserve forest area of Pathri section.
Forest range officer Dinesh Nodiyal said that their team had first nabbed Dinesh with the help of the sniffer dog and acting on his information, others had been arrested too. The main accused Tanvir was nabbed on Wednesday morning, he added.