On an unusually cool afternoon in the posh Chetpet area of Chennai sits Raman (name changed on request), well into his ’60s, in his pajamas, whirling a cane in his hand as he talks about his lucrative profession — smuggling of red sanders trees. Raman opens up on the condition of anonymity. “Especially now is not a good time to talk openly of these things,” he says of his smuggling operation.He is referring to the alleged encounter deaths of 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu, shot down by the forest police force of Andhra Pradesh deep inside the Seshachalam forests. The encounter took place in the wee hours of April 7. A political uproar erupted with protests against Andhra police in the state of Tamil Nadu. Investigations are on into the alleged encounter with “unknown” Special Task Force police personnel being accused of murder.The Andhra Pradesh High Court , a Special Investigation Team set up by the Andhra government as well as India’s National Human Rights Commission are individually probing the issue.This was the bloodiest case of killings over red sanders, an endangered species of tree endemic to the forests along the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border. Forest officials who tried to stop smuggling have been brutally murdered in the past as well.Red sanders is spread over 5,160 square km in Andhra, according to data available with the ministry of environment and forests. Red sanders, or red sandalwood, is a key ingredient in cosmetics and traditional medicines both in India and abroad. In China, the wood is used extensively for making furniture and musical instruments. In 2013-14 alone 42.32 tonnes of red sanders was seized by customs department officials in Tamil Nadu. Much more has been smuggled out of the country.Domestic demand and prices are low within India. “Locally, the going rate is now `40 lakh per tonne,” says Raman. “But when we export it, the rates double and we get `70-80 lakh per tonne.”"The Chinese believe red sanders has aphrodisiac qualities,” chuckles Raman. “They want cots made of this wood. The Japanese want traditional musical instruments like shamisen and koto made of it.”Raman speaks at length about the intricate web of corruption that allows this lucrative international red sanders smuggling to operate.“The buyers in China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan get in touch with what we call suppliers in India, like myself,” he explains. “Suppliers are everywhere — in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Kannauj, Kolkata , Tirupati and Chitspecialtoor.An order is placed — for instance, 25 tonnes of red sanders logs. Each supplier has his own network in the Andhra-Tamil Nadu border area where the trees are available.He gets in touch with the agent in Tirupati and Chittoor in Andhra and gives him the order details,” he says. The agent in turn puts out the word to his network of sub-agents in villages dotting the Jawadhu hills in Tamil Nadu. A team of 100-200 men is assembled depending on the size of the order. These villagers, says Raman, are traditional woodcutters, the kind who died in the encounter in early April. These traditional woodcutters, who once took down sandalwood trees in the Sathyamangalam forests, were rendered jobless around 2004 with the police and special task force crackdown on notorious brigand Veerappan and others like him.“The sub-agents earn `1,000-2,000 to round up these men. The 100-200 woodcutters are paid `1,000 per head per trip. Each trip lasts about 15 days as they must go deep into the forests to cut down trees. They live in the forests during that time. It is like an army — out of 100 men, only about 20 will actually fell trees. The rest of them will be given precise roles — some will be look-outs to ensure no forest department officials arrive, some will guard against wild animals, some will cook while others will sharpen saws and tools,” says Raman.Food provisions are carried by the men into the forests. Deaths sometimes occur — woodcutters get attacked by wild elephants or get lost in the forests and perish due to dehydration. “In such cases, the supplier provides monetary compensation of `5 lakh to the family of the dead,” says Raman. “It is to wash away the sins accrued by that death.”Agents, usually local musclemen, earmark patches of forest, claiming it to be their territory. They charge `2000-3000 as fee for organising one trip. Forest department officials responsible for the respective areas, claims Raman, are usually on the take and have specified bribes per trip. “A beat officer, deputy ranger, watcher and a guard put together get bribed `40,000 per trip to turn a blind eye to the felling,” he says. Most points of ascension to the hills are through tiny villages at the foothills. Village leaders and elders are paid `1,000-2,000 per trip for permission to enter. The forest department officials refused to comment on the matter when contacted by ET Magazine.Once the requisite number of trees is felled, the woodcutters hoist the logs onto their shoulders and begin their descent. Where the plains get flatter, mules or bullock carts would await them and the logs are then taken to the closest motorable roads, which again lie within a village at the foothills. The village that they exit from is never the same as the village from which they entered. “The logs need to be hidden in the village, so villagers usually ask for `50-100 per log as protection money to keep quiet,” says Raman. “There are usually a number of local goons there who see an opportunity to demand money and alcoholThese are usually indulged so that they keep their silence.”The team leader of the woodcutters then heads to meet with the supplier’s employee in a small hotel or lodge. Logs remain hidden behind bushes on the roadside, awaiting trucks to pick them up. Another employee of the suppliers arrives with the truck and the logs are loaded and covered with watermelon, bananas or jackfruit in order to escape random police checks along the way. To reach the highway, these trucks have to cross a forest department checkpost — the agent would have already paid `1 lakh per truck as bribe to allow these out onto the highway. These trucks then head by road to the port of departure in Chennai, Mumbai or Kannauj,” says Raman.At the port itself sits an agent whom Raman calls the ‘port agent’. This is a man specialising in greasing palms, a one-point contact for smugglers to move their goods quietly through. “Port agents are paid `5 lakhs per tonne. A 40-foot container can hold 24 tonnes of goods. This amount includes bribes paid to customs officials at the port such as the customs officer, examiner, appraiser, container yard supervisor, container preventive officer etc. The package deal for all of these officials is `5 lakh per container and they split it amongst themselves as per hierarchy,” says Raman.If the containers are packed in a private warehouse, the law insists that a customs official must be present during the process of packing. “The suppliers’ men will ply the customs official with alcohol and show him only the goods used to camouflage the logs,” says Raman. “Some suppliers weld a sheet into the container, creating two partitions so that the logs can’t be easily seen. Sealed containers are often opened by removing the hinges on the door — the packed material is taken out and replaced with red sanders,” he chuckles.Once the consignment leaves Indian shores, the buyer’s network takes over at ports of transit in Dubai, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Job done, the supplier in India makes a cool `2-5 crore for the entire operation.Raman says the suppliers are well known to the police and political establishment in each state but operations continue smoothly as top cops as well as political leaders are paid off to allow operations to continue. He refuses to disclose the figures involved.Andhra Pradesh minister for environment and forests B Gopala Krishna Reddy agrees that there is a problem of widespread corruption. “We need to take steps for a long-term solution,” says Reddy. “We are mulling removing the ban on felling and export of red sanders itself. If there is no smuggling, there can be no corruption,” he says.As the probe continues into the alleged encounter of 20 woodcutters, India would need to cast a much wider net in order to put an end to this international smuggling operation. Institutionalised corruption would need to be dealt with an iron hand.(The writer is a freelance journalist based in Chennai)