Agartala/UNI: Acting on a tip-off Khowai district police of West Tripura on Thursday arrested five persons hailing from Assam for their alleged involvement in a sandalwood smuggling racket and seized sandalwood worth Rs 90,000 from their passion while they were proceeding towards Assam through alternative National Highway.

Police said that based on intelligence input security personnel erected a checking point on the Khowai-Kamalpur road and detained the vehicle registered with Assam.

During the search, police seized about 9kg of sandalwood in a bag from the vehicle but the people owning the sandalwood did not produce any valid documents.

Later, police arrested Akhter Hossain, Abdul Malek, Delwar Hossain, Basir Uddin, and Mirazur Rahman from Lanka Hojai in Assam.