Baramulla, July 26: Police on Wednesday said they apprehended two timber smugglers involved in the cutting down of illicit forest timber at Mayan Forests and recovered a haul of 35 illegal planks from their possession in the Bijhama Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
A police official said that under the “vigilant” leadership of Shokat Ali-JKPS, SDPO Uri, with the assistance of Inspector Irfan Ahmad, SHO Police Station Bijhama, the police arrested two timber smugglers.
The arrest came as a result of a thorough operation conducted by the police to combat the rampant smuggling of precious forest resources, he said and identified the two accused as Ghulam Hassan Sheikh, son of Juma Sheikh, and Khursheed Ahmad Mir, son of Mohd Ashraf, both residents of Mayan Bijhama.
“The accused have allegedly been engaged in the illegal felling of forest timber, which they were then selling at inflated rates, exacerbating the threat to the fragile ecosystem of the region,” the official said, adding that during the well-coordinated operation, law enforcement officers successfully seized a significant haul of 35 illicit wooden planks of forest timber from the possession of the smugglers.
A case under the relevant sections of the Indian Forest Act was registered at the Police Station Bijhama and investigative proceedings have been initiated, the police official said.
