Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) stopped a consignment of red sanders being exported from the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam on Tuesday.
The red-sander logs, stacked in two 40-foot containers, were being exported by a Mumbai-based agent to Hong Kong via Dubai. Acting on a tip-off, officials carried out an inspection and intercepted the containers, carrying more than 10 tonnes of the contraband.
Efforts are on to trace the agency which had booked the containers.
“The logs were concealed inside coir pith boxes in these containers. The exact volume of the contraband is yet to be ascertained’’, officials said.
Red sanders have been banned from being traded in the international market. It is suspected that the material was brought to Kerala from Andhra Pradesh, most probably by road.
The customs paper works and clearance of the container was carried out by a container freight station in Kochi.