The Kadapa police on Tuesday made a major breakthrough by capturing on Monday night five inter-state red sanders smugglers and confiscating 2.2 tonnes of red sanders logs valued at Rs.2.7 crore, three cars, a tanker, Rs 4.3 lakh in cash and seven mobile phones from their possession at Kondapeta Bridge in Chennur mandal.
The detainees are in judicial custody at the Kadapa Jail.
Kadapa Superintendent of Police Naveen Gulati told the mediapersons that the arrests and confiscation was made in a joint operation by the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) and the Kadapa police.
Mr. Gulati said that of the five smugglers, two – Timmasamudram Venkata Reddy (56) of Tirupati and Mohammad Ali alias Ali Bhai (55) of Kumbhakonam in Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu – were close associates of smugglers Kollam Gangi Reddy (nabbed by Interpol in Mauritius in February and awaiting extradition to India) and Ali Bhai of Dubai.
The other three were identified as Jangala Veera Bhadraiah (63) of Gandlapalle village in Vontimitta mandal and Kandula Rajamohan Reddy (24) of Chitvel mandal in Kadapa district and Timmasasmudram Chengal Reddy (28) of Tirupati. All of them were wanted in criminal cases in several police stations in Kadapa District.
The SP said that the two associates of Gangi Reddy and Ali Bhai had over a decade smuggled out over 800 tonnes of red sanders logs to foreign countries. The task force identified assets worth over Rs 20 crore belonging to Venkata Reddy in Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts and that of Mohammad Ali in Kumbakonam and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
Their modus operandi was to transport logs in cars, lorries and containers under the guise of vegetables to the northern states and ports. They also maintained illegal godowns in Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts.
