KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 3

Police have arrested two people with 44 litres of red sandalwood essential oil from Budhanilkanta Municipality.

A special team deployed from Metropolitan Police Crime Division raided a room and took them into custody yesterday. The suspects of contraband smuggling and trading have been identified as Ram Bahadur Khatri, 27, of Ramechhap and Ganga Bahadur Pun, 40, of Kaski.

MPCD said they were arrested in the act of trading in the aromatic oil for Rs 500,000 per litre. The red sandalwood essential oil was found to have been stored in jerry cans inside the room.

Earlier on November 26, MPCD had arrested 10 persons with 35 litres of the contraband from Tilganga, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-8.

According to police, the oil is mainly used for aromatic therapy, body massage and to cure skin diseases. After police stepped up crackdown on smuggling and trade of red sandalwood in the form of logs, racketeers have been adopting new modus operadi to outsmart the law enforcement agency. It is also smuggled and traded in the form of powder and prayer beads.

The oil is distilled from the wood of the entire tree including stump and roots of red sandalwood. It is also used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of both somatic and mental disorders, including common colds, bronchitis, fever, urinary tract infections, and inflammation, police said.

Red sandalwood is an aromatic tropical hardwood tree which is endemic to southern India. This species does not naturally grow in Nepal.

Red sandalwood is listed under Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Engendered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to which Nepal is a party. Thus, Nepal is obliged to outlaw transportation, possession, sale and distribution of the rare wood and its extracts.

Meanwhile, the arrestees have been handed over to Division Forest Office, Kathmand for further investigation and legal action. A version of this article appears in the print on December 4, 2021 of The Himalayan Times.