January 12: More than 40,000 kilograms of red sandalwood confiscated by police in various places over different periods of time have been left abandoned in Sindhupalchowk. 

Stranded red sandalwoods are going to decay as they have neither been returned to rightful owners nor auctioned. 

Logs of the valuable red sandalwood were seized by police while the smugglers were trying to smuggle them to China and left stranded for decades in absence of clear laws about what to do with such confiscated logs. 

Although the District Forest Office ought to conserve the seized red sandalwood, a huge chunk of the valuable wood have been lying in sorry state in the premises of District Administration Office in Sindupalchowk. 

According to Assistant District Forest Officer Krishna Bahadur Thapa, they had handed over the precious woods to the police due to lack of space to park them at the forest office and having no one to guard the seized logs. 

Confiscated red sandalwoods are in sorry state as the concerned authority is yet to decide on what to do with them

"The Forest Department or Ministry should decide in this regard. We are not authorized to take decision on it," said Thapa, adding that since they were told to conserve the seized red sandalwood from the higher up, they were keeping them safe till date. 

"After the Forest Department wrote to the District Forest Office, we have  appraised them about the condition of these seized red sandalwood," Thapa said.

It is learnt that seized sandalwoods from the district are smuggled to India and then taken to China from there. 

DSP Shiv Kumar Budhathoki said police personnel are guarding the red sandalwoods parked in the premises of DAO. The DAO premise has red sandalwoods confiscated since 2062.