Forest department cracks down on timber mafia in Soygaon

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Acting on a tip-off about illegal tree felling in the Nimkhedi area of Soygaon taluka and its transport to Malegaon, the Forest Department laid a trap near Ghosla village on Tuesday around 9 pm and seized a truck carrying illegally cut timber.

The vehicle (MH-18-BG-6941) was intercepted during a checkpoint operation and found loaded with illegally felled wood, including palas, neem, and beheda trees. A total of 1,842 tonnes of timber was seized, and the truck was taken to the Soygaon forest department office. The operation was conducted by a team led by forest range officials Mukhtar Ali, forest guards Nilesh Multane and Supriya Chaudhary, under the guidance of deputy conservator of forests Suvarna Mane and assistant conservator Swapnil Bhamre, along with forest range officer Anil Misal and other staff.