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DRI seizes red sandalwood in Kochi

Staff Reporter

Thiruvananthapuram: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Saturday intercepted a large shipment of red sandalwood bound for the United Kingdom at the Kochi port.

Officials said the international shipment container was intercepted at the Kochi port yard in the evening. It contained 35 tonnes of red sandalwood, a rare and highly valued variety of timber the export and import of which is banned under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The exporter had wrongly declared the export consignment as "cotton garments." The shipment was bound for Southampton in the U.K., an official said.

The driver of the lorry that delivered the container to the port has been arrested. The officials said the red sandalwood was brought to Kochi from Bangalore. The DRI is investigating a Bangalore-based export-import firm in connection with the seizure.

Fake currency

The DRI also arrested Bechu Rehman, one of the accused in the controversial Sabarimala Tantri blackmail case, in connection with the recent seizure of fake Indian currency amounting to Rs.25 lakh at Mumbai airport.

The DRI unit in Mumbai had arrested an air passenger from Dubai on the charge of smuggling fake currency into India. An official said the fake notes were of high quality and even Reserve Bank of India officials in Mumbai had difficulty differentiating it from real currency. Bechu Rehman, a film producer and actor, was arrested on the basis of a statement given by the person accused by the DRI of smuggling the fake currency in his baggage. He will be produced before the court at the earliest, the officials said.

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