Mysuru: Two sandalwood trees were chopped off and one tree was left with most of its trunk cut by smugglers late last night at Kukkarahalli Lake. The smugglers used battery-powered wood cutters to cut the trees. However, they abandoned the booty as they could not chop the trunk into small pieces that can be carried.

The incident took place in the lake area that comes in front of Jaladarshini Guest House near Kalamandira. The trees were located a few metres from the ‘Walkers Bay’ at the lake. Some morning-walkers spotted the chopped off trees and alerted DCF (Wildlife) Yedukondalu who formed a team to investigate.

Jayalakshmipuram Police who visited the spot along with Forest officers told SOM that the trees were healthy and had considerable amount of the scented wood. “Criminals would have entered the lake via Kalamandira side. Usually they chop trees in one night and carry them the next night after extracting the sandalwood,” they said.

The University of Mysore that is the custodian of the lake has posted security at the gates. However, the security men neither saw smugglers entering the lake nor heard any sound of the wood being cut.

The team searched the nearby areas for weapons and other clues but in vain. It may be recalled here that six months back too, one sandalwood tree was cut from the lake premises.