TIRUPATI: The Tirupati urban police swooped down on a team of red sanders smugglers including a Chinese national, during a raid at Chaitanyapuram under Renigunta limits on Saturday evening.
Kolluri Venkat Rao (32) alias K.V.R. Naidu alias Venkatesh, belonging to Dakkili mandal of Nellore district, believed to be the kingpin, was presented before the media on Sunday evening. The arrested includes Zhang Jianlin (32), a Chinese national hailing from Naipu state of Henan province and currently residing in K.R. Puram in Bengaluru. He is believed to be the mediator to smuggler Wang Xian Yu living in Fujian state of China.
Modus operandi
Zhang has been involved in red sanders smuggling since 2012 under the guise of prawn feed import business. He buys red sanders from Venkata Rao, packs them in boxes and ferries them to Ravi in Mumbai with the help of Pande, a transporter of Bengaluru, from where the shipment reaches China. Wang pays a monthly salary of Rs.50000 to Zhang, according to police.
The arrested include Akkala Ashok Kumar, Bandi Mahendra, Koneru Naveen Kumar, Arava Rajan, Kalapati Durga, Pari Murali, Bukya Mahadeva Naik (all hailing from Chittoor, Nellore and Kadapa districts) and R. Devendra of R.T. Nagar in Bengaluru.
24 red sanders logs weighing 762 kg, three cars, one motorcycle, thirteen mobile phones, two gold chains, two gold rings and ₹34,000 in cash were seized from their possession. The police have also named Wang Xian You, Ravi and Pande as accused in the case.
