Sandalwood smugglers held at KBR Park

Hyderabad: Forest officials on Thursday arrested smugglers who tried to cut a sandalwood tree inside KBR Park. One of the smugglers put up a fight by pelting stones and broken glasses after locking himself up in an abandoned room in the park. Policemen from Banjara Hills police station came to the spot and overpowered him.

Officials said that though security was tightened the smugglers got inside the park secretly. The forest official on duty noticed the smugglers and alerted other officials. In the scuffle they arrested all of them except one man who locked himself up in an abandoned room inside the park.

“There were broken pieces of glass and other articles inside the room. He threw them at us to drive us away. However, we caught him after surrounding the building,” said Banjara Hills police inspector Murali Krishna.

Officials said that there are around 200 sandalwood trees inside KBR Park. Security was tightened after forest officials found markings on trees made by unknown people.