The ambulance belonging to one Bhairabkunda Club of Sindhupalchwok was found with 49 kilograms of the contraband hidden under the patient seat during a regular roadside check by Metropolitan Police Sector Jagate. [break]
"We sensed something wrong looking at abnormal behavior of the people in the vehicle," said Inspector Keshav Kumar Thebe, the sector in-charge.
There were only two persons in the ambulance -- Sangbo Sherpa, the driver, and Sangbu Sherpa who said he was returning home after getting treatment on his fractured hand. Both have been detained.
According to Thebe, the driver said he put the four small trunks of red sandalwood at Bouddha as asked by a Chinese national who is yet to be identified. The consignment was to be unloaded at Tatopani.
"We happened to make the seizure shortly after we started checking the ambulances too keeping in view the fact that the privileged vehicles were misused for smuggling in the past," Thebe said.
Red sandalwood smuggling from India to Tibet via the capital valley route, according to security officials, has involved new groups including a number of political party members.
A seizure which reportedly involved workers of three major political parties was dismissed as an ´unattended case´ in Nawalparasi last month.
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