Residents of Annur nabbed two persons who were trying to cut and smuggle well grown sandalwood trees from a house in the wee hours of Saturday.

According to police, the two  – Karuppusamy and Murugesan – were cutting the trees at around 2 a.m. from a house.

On hearing the noise, neighbours woke up. Seeing them, they tried to escape, but they chased and nabbed them and alerted the forest personnel.

Officials from Sirumugai range arrived at the scene and imposed a penalty of Rs. 9,000 each on the duo and later handed over them to police.