Kolhapur: The city police investigating the theft of sandalwood oil and logs, amounting to Rs 70 lakh are keeping a close watch on the routes from Kolhapur to Konkan region. They suspect the stolen goods will be smuggled by sea."Considering that there are chances that the material stolen from the custody of the forest department may be smuggled outside India as there is demand for the material in international market, we are keeping a close watch on major roads that lead to ports and other such destinations outside the district. Previously in 2010 and 2012, in similar cases the material was seized when the culprits were attempting to transport it from Kolhapur, to sell them in international markets in 2010 and 2012," said a senior police officer involved in the investigation."We are busy preparing sketches of the culprits as per the information provided by the forest officials that were beaten up during the robbery. The language the culprits used was Hindi. We have got some other clues regarding the case and are trying to nab the culprits as early as possible," he said."We suspect that there must be someone from local level who knew about the storage of the seized material and must have provided information to the culprits. We are investigating on these lines and are trying to find the culprits involved," he said.The gang of 7 to 8 persons stormed into the forest department's nursery on July 18 and decamped with booty worth Rs 70.5 lakh that was in the forest department's custody. The stolen material include, sandalwood oil worth Rs 60 lakh, red sandalwood worth Rs 9 lakh and sandalwood logs worth Rs 1.5 lakh. The material was seized by the police in various raids conducted in 2010 and 2012.

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