A man wanted in a case of smuggling red sandalwood worth over Rs 1.8 crore in Maharashtra has been arrested from Gujarat's Surat city, police said on Saturday. Based on a tip-off, a team from the Surat police's crime branch arrested Afzal Memon, who was allegedly involved in the smuggling of red sandalwood in Maharashtra's Raigad district and had been on the run since the last one and a half years, an official said.
Memon worked at a textile market and confessed about his involvement in the case, he said. In September 2020, an FIR was lodged at Neral police station in Maharashtra's Raigad district against Memon and others under section 379 (theft) and other relevant provisions of the IPC and the Indian Forest Act, the official said.
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The FIR was lodged after the Raigad police seized red sandalwood worth Rs 1.88 crore stored at a farm, he said. Memon has been handed over to the Maharashtra police, the official said, adding that the accused was also arrested in a similar case in the past and an FIR was lodged against him and others at the same police station in 2015.
-With PTI Input
