Illegal timber smuggling is increasing in Madhesh province using vehicles like Scorpio, Tata Sumo etc. The forest office had difficulties in controlling it after they started smuggling with fake number plates.
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Based on the information that the vehicle was bringing wood from the national forest area of Rautahat, the patrol of the forest office stopped and checked the Scorpio in Bhasedwa village of Kataharia municipality-1 on the night of 15th July. As soon as the vehicle stopped, the driver ran away. The forest office team became more suspicious. Forest had no doubt that the Scorpio was loaded with wood. But inside the car seat was removed and a sal bullet was found.
A team led by Forest Officer Vinod Jethar found 4 green salal pellets inside a Scorpio bearing number MH 04 DB 6353 in Bhasedwa village at night. After seeing the bullet on Scorpio, the forest team was surprised . Forest did not suspect that wood was smuggled in Scorpio .
In Madhesh, the Scorpio car is known as a great identity and is mostly bought for fun. But recently, it is believed that wood is being smuggled in such vehicles. Division Forest Chief Hemant Kumar Sah said he was surprised to see wood smugglers in Scorpio. "In the past, wood was smuggled in tractors, bicycles or trucks," he said, "Now wood is smuggled in vehicles like Scorpio, Tatasumo, Tata Mobile." Two days after the seizure of wood from the Scorpio in Bhasedwa, on the way to Katani in Chandrapur Municipality-6 Beldi, the team of the area police Chandranigahpur found the Scorpio illegally loaded with sal pills. Indian Scorpio with HR 14C 8697 was checked and 5 illegal sal pills were found.
As soon as the jeep stopped, the driver escaped. An armed forest security patrol team at Division Forest Office Chandranigahpur recovered a pick-up van with illegal sal wood a month ago . A team led by ranger Vikas Lamichhane of Dhansar Post recovered a Bolero pick-up No. 2 Ch 9319 loaded with 85 cuft of illegal sal wood at Lachka, 2 km east of Dhansar Bridge on Mahendra Highway at night.
The patrolling team of the Armed Police Force Junglesahia on July 5th seized the Indian Tata Safari jeep numbered HP 31 CO 773, which was passing through the road of Gujra municipality-4 Lalbakaia river, along with 20 cuft of salal bullets illegally kept from the forest. On seeing the armed police patrol team, the wood smuggler left the vehicle and managed to escape. The safari vehicle is boarded by those in Madhesh. The armed men had no doubt that there might be wood inside the vehicle. The forest tried to locate the vehicle owner but could not . The forest office said that it could not be identified as it was an Indian vehicle.
It has been found that the jeeps used in wood smuggling have been lined up in the Division Forest and Armed Forest Guard offices of Madhesh Province. Vehicles such as Scorpio, Tata Sumo, and Tata Mobile that people buy for fun and carry goods have recently been used for smuggling by loading high-priced raw salal pills. Thus, most of the Scorpios used in smuggling have been found to have Indian number plates. The forest officers say that there is a problem in identifying the vehicle owner to recover such vehicles . In the case of Nepali number plates, the Forest Office said that the identity of the vehicle owner could not be revealed due to the use of fake plates despite informing the Transport Office. This is also the reason why the main smuggler could not be reached, said a forest officer.
It has been found that jeeps bought from India at a cheap price are being used in smuggling. These jeeps are mostly used in wood smuggling at night. Division Forest Office Chandranigahpur has taken control of 4 scorpions along with raw sal bullets since 6 months. "We have found fake Nepali numbers on all the jeeps we found," said Forest Chief Sah. Jeeps with Indian as well as Nepali plates have also started to be used for wood theft.' Dhansar Post seized a Tata Sumo Jeep with Nepali number plates a month ago and was going to smuggle wood.
The Division Forest Offices of Madhesh Pradesh have so far seized 1,020 vehicles used in timber smuggling. Most of them are bicycles. Small vehicles include Scorpio, Tata Jeep, Tata Mobile, Pickup, Tractor, Truck, Bus. Sarlahi Division Forest Chief Santosh Kumar Jha said that they are stricting the timber smuggling points. "We have mobilized suraki in various places," he said, "as soon as wood is loaded in small vehicles, we go to the action when suraki comes." Lately, jeeps like Scorpio have been used in four-wheelers as well, according to the Forest Office.
Most of the Indian Scorpio are being used in wood theft, said the Forest Office . In India, such jeeps are available for 2 to 3 lakh Indian rupees. There are no documents for such vehicles entering Nepal through the Chor Path. The recovered jeeps do not have real numbers. Its texture is different from that of Nepal. Various songs and muktakas are written in Indian letters on both sides of the zip. The smuggler deletes them all . Nepalese keep the number plate as well. Fake Nepali numbers are stuck on such vehicles. They keep fake number plates to hide the eyes of the traffic police stationed on the highway .
On the 7th of June, the patrol team of Division One recovered a stolen Bolero jeep from the highway side of Paurai forest while it was loaded with raw sal pellets. A Nepali number was also put on the zip. It has been found that they cut raw trees and smuggle them into the size of a jeep.
Until a decade ago, smugglers used to take sal pills in trucks, tractors, motorcycles and bicycles. Now expensive vehicles like Scorpio, Bolero, Tata Sumo and stolen Indian jeeps are being used, said Jamdar Rampukar Sah of Armed Forest Guard. "Now we have to increase the vigilance even on Scorpios used in private vehicles," he said, "Smugglers stopped taking wood in tractors and trucks." Now they have started using tools like stolen Jeeps and Scorpios. In an event organized by the Ministry of Forests last June in Bardibas of Mahottari, Uddhav Bahadur Ghimire, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests of Madhesh Province, complained that the wood smugglers have started adopting new/new technologies. They change the type of vehicle and move it in broad daylight so that the forest office doesn't find out. All help is needed to extinguish it," he said.
According to the Division Forest Office Chandranigahpur, the office has seized 21 Scorpios, Tata Safari Jeeps, Tata Jeeps, Toyota Jeeps and Tata Mobile vehicles used for smuggling in a period of 5 years. Similarly, 4 trucks have been seized while trying to smuggle illegal salal pills. One mini bus has been seized. Forest has informed that 8 tractors, 31 motorcycles and 270 bicycles loaded with wood have been seized. About 3 thousand 745 cubic feet of wood cut by smugglers has been recovered.
Forest Chief Shah said that special patrols have been mobilized at the checkpoints where wood smuggling is more frequent and he has instructed the staff of Sector Forest to arrest the smugglers even if it means shooting. It has been found that more timber is stolen and smuggled in the forest areas of Dhansar, Vrindavan, Rangpur, Junglesaiya, Judibela, Gaindatar, Chandranigahpur in the district.
