Sandalwood tree theft on the rise

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 20. A spate of sandalwood tree thefts in the city has left the police groping in the dark. The most recent theft was the deft felling of two 40-year-old sandalwood trees situated inside adjacent residential plots at Thampanoor in the wee hours of Monday.

The Circle Inspector (Thampanoor), Mr. Vimal Kumar, said the trees were seen neatly sliced from the base. Police suspect the thieves to have used electric saws to fell the trees. In one of the houses, three props were used to ensure that the tree trunk did not fall to the ground with a thump. The residents became aware of the theft only when they saw remains of the felled trees in the morning.

The felled trees were about 45 cm in diameter and eight feet in height. The thieves had defecated at the spot in what police think was a bid to throw sniffer dogs off track.

The sandalwood tree theft at the houses in Thampanoor comes close on the heels of an attempted theft of a mature sandalwood tree on the premises of the Police Training College at Thycaud on November 14. Here too, the tree was seen cleanly stripped of its bark possibly with the help of an electric saw.

Police said the offence was committed again in the wee hours of November 14. The damaged tree was later cut into logs and handed over to the Forest Department for safe custody. When contacted, the Museum police who are investigating the theft attempt said they are yet to get any clue in the case.

Police said that similar sandalwood thefts have been reported in the past from Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, University College, Government Women's College, Raj Bhavan campus and campuses of Government institutions in the city.

Officials said there was ample ground to suspect that the stolen trees were finding their way through middlemen and regular recipients of stolen property to artisans who specialise in making hand-crafted curious from hard sandalwood. Some parts of the tree, particularly the bark, are illegally diverted to shops selling ayurvedic herbs. Police said the theft of sandalwood trees usually corresponded with the November-December season when crafted sandalwood curious and artefacts are in high demand in tourist spots in the State.

The police are of the opinion that the sandalwood thefts in the city were being carried out by a gang of specialists. "I think the persons who steal sandalwood trees are not commonplace burglars or robbers. They must know how to identify sandalwood trees with good hardwood content and where they are located," Mr. Vimal said.

Police believe that the gang members scour the city for sandalwood trees and single out those ripe for felling. "Now that they have exhausted sandal trees in Government compounds and college campuses, the gang could be shifting their attention to those trees in residential plots," he said.

When contacted, the secretary of Friends of Trees, Mr. C. K. Karunakaran, said that while taking stock of rare and old trees in Thiruvananthapuram, volunteers of the organisation had seen several stumps of felled sandalwood trees on some college campuses in the city.

Mr. Karunakaran pointed out that sandalwood trees in the city took more than 15 years to form hardwood than their counterparts in the dry plains of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. "This is because of heavy rainfall in the capital. Though sandalwood has been naturalised in Thiruvananthapuram, it cannot be said that the tree is endemic to the capital district," he said.

The trees are also felled for the sandalwood oil they yield. The root and the hardwood core of the tree have more oil. The sapwood rarely yields sandalwood oil, he said. The market value for 1,000 kg of sandalwood (hardwood) is anywhere between Rs 4 lakhs and Rs 5 lakhs.

Mr. Karunakaran said that valuable and old sandalwood trees inside the Kawadiar Palace and the Raj Bhavan campus should be protected from theft at all costs.

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