Pune: Sandalwood thieves threaten IMD office security guard with sharp weapon; two trees chopped and stolen in wee hours

Pune: The city has recently witnessed a spike in the robbery cases of Sandalwood trees. In yet another incident that happened at the Indian Meteorological Department office (Shimla Office) in Shivajinagar area at Friday midnight, four Sandalwood thieves stole two such trees from the premises. The goons were well equipped with weapons and threatened the security guards posted at the gate of IMD office with a sharp weapon.

Ganesh Adagale, (52) an IMD employee and resident of Kasba Peth has lodged a complaint against four unidentified suspects at the Shivajinagar police station.

According to the statement given to the cops, there were two security guards posted on the office’s gate when at around 3.15 am, four men barged in.

The men threatened the guards by showing them weapons and asked them to not raise their voices. The suspects used a hexa blade to chop the sandalwood trees in IMD premises. They suspects were inside the premises for about one hour. After the thieves fled from the spot, complainant Adagale informed his seniors about the incident. On their instructions, Adagale lodged a complaint regarding this incident at the Shivajinagar police station. Further procedure to identify these men has begun and the cops are now checking all the nearby cctv cameras.