According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakra Bahadur Singh of MPRO, the police arrested two persons from Chetrapati, Thamel while they were in the cars with false bottom which they had used to carry red sandalwood.[break]
The rest of the members of the gang were arrested from Baudha and Swayambhu areas. The arrested have claimed that they were transporting the wood for a Khasa-based Chinese smuggler for commission. The arrested have been identified as Narup Tsering Sherpa, 27, Lila Shrestha, 24, Amar Shrestha aka Umesh, 32, Neema Tsering Sherpa, 27, and Padam Shrestha, 47. All of them are from Sindhupalchowk district.
As the demand for red sandalwood is growing in China, smugglers have been trying different methods to smuggle the red sandalwood.
The regular checkpoints have been bolstered in view of the increasing incidents of sandalwood smuggling, the police said.
Smuggling different illegal objects by hiding in the false bottom has been a widely used method recently, DSP Singh said.
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