Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Environment and Forests K. Pawan Kalyan called for enhanced surveillance on the smuggling of red sanders by deploying drones and other latest technologies, and stringent action against those plundering the precious wood.

He instructed that the kingpins be apprehended so that the illegal activity would come to a halt.

Addressing a review meeting on the protection of red sanders at his camp office on Thursday, Mr. Kalyan ordered that efforts be made to retrieve the smuggled wood from wherever it was hidden in the country, and that the smuggling networks be dismantled down to their roots through a zero-tolerance approach.

The officials informed the Deputy Chief Minister that 506 cases had been registered, 1,239 people had been arrested, and 372 vehicles had been seized in the last two years. Additionally, 12 kingpins were booked under the Preventive Detention Act, they said.

Nearly 36 tonnes of smuggled red sandalwood stored in Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was seized through joint operations with the Forest and Police departments of those States.