The Ropar Forest Department has busted an interstate gang of khair wood smugglers operating along the Punjab-Himachal border. It seized a pickup vehicle loaded with 11 khair logs during a late-night operation in the Kalyanpur forest area near the Punjab-Himachal border.According to DFO Ropar Kanwardeep Singh, the seizure followed a three-night surveillance operation launched on the basis of specific intelligence inputs about the movement of an interstate timber smuggling gang.He said forest teams had gathered intelligence that an organised network comprising smugglers from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh was active in the area. Acting on the information, forest personnel set up nakas at strategic points for three consecutive nights before intercepting the vehicle.The pickup carrying 11 illegally felled khair logs was confiscated, although those transporting the timber managed to flee. Forest officials said efforts were underway to identify the accused and trace the origin of the timber.The latest operation comes just weeks after another major success for the forest department in the Chamkaur Sahib region, where officials dismantled a suspected Haryana-based timber smuggling network operating along the Mohali-Ropar border.In that case, forest teams acting on intelligence inputs intercepted four vehicles — a tractor trolley, a pickup, a Tata Sumo and a Toyota Etios Liva — reportedly registered in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district. Around 50 khair logs were recovered, making it one of the biggest seizures in the district this year.Officials said the Haryana-based gang had allegedly crossed into Punjab to illegally fell khair trees before transporting the timber to neighbouring states. The repeated recoveries indicate that organised interstate networks are targeting the khair-rich forests of the Shivalik hills in Ropar for commercial gains.Khair wood is highly valued for the extraction of katha, which is widely used in the paan industry, pharmaceuticals and traditional medicines. Its high market value has made the species a prime target for timber smugglers operating across Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand.The recent seizures also come against the backdrop of an interstate investigation led by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department earlier this year. During the probe, UP forest officials raided timber depots in Punjab and arrested several suspects allegedly linked to the illegal khair wood trade. Investigators had pointed to an organised supply chain transporting illegally felled timber from the Shivalik forests to processing units across northern India.DFO Kanwardeep Singh said the department had further strengthened surveillance in vulnerable forest areas and along interstate routes.Environmentalists have repeatedly expressed concern over increasing incidents of illegal khair felling, warning that continued depletion of the species could lead to loss of forest cover, soil erosion and ecological degradation in the Shivalik region.