The Division Forest Office in Sarlahi has heightened its surveillance in Chure forest areas to control timber smuggling.

In the last 45 days, the office has already confiscated illegal woods worth millions of rupees.

According to the office, timber logs worth around Rs 700,000 were seized from Setibhir in Lalbandi Municipalit-11 on February 24.

The Saal logs were found stashed on the bank of Setibhir stream.

A couple of weeks later, the office on March 18 seized 46.87 cubic feet of illegal woods from Gharibathan in Ishworpur Municipality-12.

The timbers were handed over to the Sector Forest Office in Banke.

Similarly, a forest patrol team on March 29 came across 137 cubic feet of timbers at Karmaiya in Bagmati Municipality-12. Officials said the timbers had been brought from forests in Rautahat district.

The authorities most recently confiscated six Saal tree logs on Thursday. The logs were hidden among a mango grove at Kalinjor in Gharibathan, Sarlahi.

Despite confiscating a large quantity of illegal timbers, the forest office said not a single suspect was arrested. The office is trying to bust the timber smuggling racket active in the Chure region with the help of local communities, said forest officer Mahdav Prasad Dev.