KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 27
Police arrested 10 people with 35 litres of red sandalwood essential oil from Tilganga, Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
A special team of Metropolitan Police Crime Division raided a room and took them into custody.
The suspects include Hem Kumar Shrestha of Sindhuli, Mangal Singh Lho of Makawanpur, Karsang Lama of Bhaktapur, Ghanashyam Ale Magar and Jeevan Thapa of Khotang, Sudeep Thadrai of Tanahun and Ikram Shrestha, Madan Pode, Anila Charan Shrestha and Anup Kumar Shrestha of Kathmandu.
They were arrested in the act of trading in the aromatic oil for Rs 500,000 per litre yesterday.
The red sandalwood essential oil was stored in jerry cans inside the room. The oil is mainly used for aromatic therapy, body massage and to cure skin diseases.
After police stepped up crackdown on smuggling of red sandalwood logs, racketeers have started smuggling and trading in the form of powder and prayer beads.
The oil is distilled from the wood of an entire tree, including stump and roots. It is also used in Ayurvedic medicine for treatment of both somatic and mental disorders, including common cold, bronchitis, fever, urinary tract infections, and inflammation.
Red sandalwood is an aromatic tropical hardwood tree endemic to southern India. It does not grow naturally in Nepal.
It is listed under Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered 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 The Division Forest Office, Kathmandu for further investigation and legal action under the existing Forest Act.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 28, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
