Property of international smuggler attached in Uttar Pradesh

BIJNOR: Two years after the UP police and Delhi crime branch seized 133 quintals of red and white sandalwood from a godown in UP's Amroha, cops attached property worth Rs 33.5 lakh of the sandalwood mafia Mehmood Alam Ansari.

Amroha superintendent of police Aditya Langeh said the action was taken under section 14(1) of Gangster Act.

This is part of an ongoing crackdown on the sandalwood mafia who was arrested in August 2020 along with two of his associates and is currently out on bail. The gang used to send sandalwood to various parts of the country and abroad.

Meanwhile, in June this year, the cops attached property worth Rs 5.9 crore of the main-accused Qamar Ahmad Ansari who is Mehmood Alam Ansari's close aide. Amroha police and the Delhi crime branch had earlier raided the "Anwari Haweli" in Shashami Nagar in 2020, which belonged to Qamar. The sandalwood recovered back then was worth around Rs 100 crore, officials said. Qamar and his son Shakir were called the "kingpins" of the gang.