RESIDENTS of Vachati village began sandal-tree felling in the late 1980s in a modest way, carrying the wood out of the forest in small headloads. But soon they became part of an organised network, supplying sandalwood to agents of bigger smugglers from the neighbouring villages of Kalasapadi, Kakkampatti, Nochkottal, Arsantham and Melvalavu.

This encouraged collective smuggling in which a group of 100-200 men would enter the forests and cut down sandal-trees and resist forest officials if they tried to stop them. When a forest ranger with a team of 50 staff members entered the village last year, they were attacked by a violent mob. In March 1988, Ramachandran, a forest guard on the Toluvavetta beat, was shot at as he tried to nab some smugglers.

By 1992, it had become almost impossible for forest officials to even enter the village. In May 1992, a team of 40 members was detained for hours by residents of Kalasapadi village. Another team that started combing operations in villages around Vachati, was tricked into entering Vachati and attacked by 300 armed men. The collective had become so powerful, they even wanted the divisional forest officer to give them in writing his word that officials would never enter the village again.