Illegal Agarwoods worth Rs 1.5 crore seized by Assam Police at NH37 in Bokakhat

Kaziranga: In a major breakthrough, Bokakhat Police managed to seize illegal Xasi/Agarwood worth Rs 1.5 crore rupees from a truck bearing registration number AS 01DC 3673 on Saturday.

During the seizure, no valid documents were being produced before the police, thus, leading to the arrests of two more persons along with the driver. Police meanwhile, conducting an interrogation in connection to the matter.

Sources informed that the illegal agarwood was being carried from Naharoni of Dergaon to Hojai Nil Bagan area.

One Babul Ali from Naharani area has been identified to be the main supplier of this illegal Xasi/Agarwood. He is alleged to be the main culprit who is directly involved in selling these illegal Xasi woods.

Also, one motorcycle bearing registration number AS 05E 5421 was also recovered from the truck.

It is to be noted that Aquilaria malaccensis, the Agar tree, is a product of the religious and cultural aroma of the north-eastern region that has been creating a paradigm shift. It has been a major factor in setting up green economic stewardship in the region, to explore new dynamics of ‘access and benefit-sharing’. By empowering the rights of aboriginal residents over the gross natural capital flow, it ensures rural livelihood generation. Aquilaria malaccensis isn’t just an aromatic plant – it’s a substrate of the economic prosperity drive in the north-eastern region of India.

Furthermore, Aquilaria agallocha and A. malaccensis are two major Agar species widely distributed in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and West Bengal. Assam is the heart of Agar trade in India. Hojai town of Nagaon District is the major producer of Agarwood. During 2002-03, Assam Forest Department claimed that more than 9000000 agar trees in the various age groups were enumerated in the non-forest lands/private lands. More than 9100 agar oil extraction units are working in Assam requiring around 728000 trees of agar which are supplied by agar farmers. More than 50,000 workers are involved in the agar business while another 1.5 lakh benefits from it indirectly.

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