TIRUPATTUR: Forest officials on Wednesday arrested a man for smuggling around 826 kilos of red sandalwood from Kannanpalayam. Two bikes and four cars used for transportation were seized, summing everything to Rs 50 lakh.

The arrested has been identified as S Sekar (35) of Kudumanpalli village.

A forest department official told TNIE that two others, Siva (37) of Salem's Karumandurai village and K Kannadasan (32), who were with the suspect escaped when police approached them. Kannadasan is Sekar's relative, living next to Sekar's house.

Explaining the modus operandi of the group, the official said they hire labourers to cut and transport red sandalwood from forests in Andhra to Tirupattur, which is then sold in Karnataka. He added that Sekar was found to have been involved in the illegal business for the past three years, and Siva was facilitating labour for the operation. A case has been filed, and further investigation is under way.