GUWAHATI, Dec 29 � Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of Customs Department posted in the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport seized nine packages of agarwood chips weighing 145 kilograms along with three bottles of agar oil weighing 2.95 kilograms.
These consignments were being attempted to be illegally exported out of the country without requisite clearances. The total value of the consignment is estimated to be of over Rs 4 lakh.
An official release informed that the consignment was covered by fake transit pass of the Forest Department.
Price of the seized agarwood chips and agar oil in the international market runs into several lakhs of rupees as agarwood chips in Mumbai are generally available for Rs 2000 to Rs 5,000 per kilogram. Rates of chips of the highest grades, reportedly available at Myanmaar border, ranges from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh per kilogram. The final destination of the agarwood chips and oil, according to the Customs Department, are places like Bahrain, Kenya, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UK. Intelligence suggest that clandestine manufacture and trading in this commodity is going on in many parts of the country.
A source in the Customs Department informed that the investigation into the case is on and no one has been arrested so far in this connection.
Another consignment of agar oil, it may be mentioned, was seized on December 20, the value of which was estimated around Rs 2 lakh.
Agarwood (botanical name Aquilaria malaccensis) is an endangered species and is listed in Appendix-II Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna(CITES), trading of which is highly restricted and import or export without requisite CITES certificate is prohibited.
