Locals of Lakhoujan tea estate in Bokakhat sub-division of Golaghat district of eastern Assam on Saturday night seized a Tata Magic vehicle laden with smuggled timber.
The vehicle bearing registration number AS-09C-8605 with illegal timber was intercepted in the tea estate area when it was travelling from Lakhoujan quarry to Laxmijuri village in the sub-division by activists of Tea Labourers Sangh, Village Defence Party and Tea Tribe Students’s Union.
However, the driver and the handyman managed to flee from the spot taking advantage of darkness.
Later, the villagers handed over the seized timber and the vehicle to the Forest Department office at Bokakhat on Saturday night.
Notably, a section of unscrupulous timber smugglers are transporting illegal timber from the forest region of Karbi Anglong adjacent to Lakhoujan tea estate.
Though the illegal timber dealers were warned on several occasions earlier, but the smuggling of illegal timber continued unabated through the tea estate area.
The locals also demanded the Forest Department to check such illegal smuggling of timber in the region.