Eight members of the gang accused for interstate sandalwood theft were arrested by Surajpol police on Thursday after raiding their hideouts. Police seized 2 cars and a bike from them and recovered 2 quintal of sandalwood from them.

Upon interrogation, the accused accepted committing 13 different sandalwood thefts at various areas in Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan. In Udaipur, they had targeted Gulab Bagh amusement park, Circuit House and Moti Magri and nearby areas of Dungarpur and Kherwara.

The accused identified as Heera Lal (31), Zakir Khan alias Gutiya (22), Munshi Khan (25), Saeed Ali (24), Mukesh Kumar (22), Bhagat Nayak (20), Kailash Chandra (42) and Deepak Dhobi (20) were arrested after another accused Sonu Harijan revealed the names. He was arrested by the police on 30^th January for sandalwood theft.

Based on the information given by Sonu, the police collected details about the whereabouts and the daily activities of the criminals and conducted raids on Thursday. All accused were arrested from various places, said SP Ajaypal Lamba.

SP informed that Heera lal of Chittorgarh, the gang leader with his accomplices had executed various thefts across states.

The accused in interrogation disclosed that they used to sell the wood to the buyers, usually businessmen at Chittorgarh at the rate of Rs. 30,000 per Kg, said SP Lamba.

Talking to the media, Heera Lal, the main accused said that in Udaipur, he along with his group members had stolen sandalwood from Gulab Bagh amusement park, Akashwani office, Maharana Pratap Memorial (Moti Magri) and Circuit House. He also claimed that he had stolen wood from jungle, situated around 4 Km away from PM Narendra Modi’s house in Gujarat.

Further he added that the stolen wood from Chittorgarh used to travel further to Mumbai and from there, shipped to foreign countries.

All the arrested were booked for stealing sandalwood and interrogation is still going on, SP added.