Two red sander smugglers, 40 workers of TN held

July 10, 2014 10:47 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 09:54 pm IST - KADAPA: CHITTOOR

Kadapa DSP C. Rajeswar Reddy and circle inspectors at Vallur police station with the red sander smugglers and workers arrested on Thursday. Photo: By Arrangement

Kadapa DSP C. Rajeswar Reddy and circle inspectors at Vallur police station with the red sander smugglers and workers arrested on Thursday. Photo: By Arrangement

A special party comprising police, forest and revenue officials arrested two notorious red sander smugglers and 40 workers of Tamil Nadu near Thollagangannapalli in Vallur mandal on Thursday and recovered 24 red sander logs, a van, four axes, three hunting sickles and sticks from them, Kadapa DSP C. Rajeswar Reddy told a press conference in Vallur police station.

Kadapa Rural circle inspector Rajagopala Reddy, Urban CI Srinivasulu and One Town CI Mahabub Basha, forest and revenue officials kept a watch following a tip-off even as four smugglers Nandimandalam Prasad, Vempalle Satish, Anantapuram Babu and Lakkireddipalle Mahabub Basha, who were travelling by a van, tried to mow down the police and sped away, the DSP said.

The special party personnel stopped a van coming behind the car and arrested two smugglers Thammisetty Sivakrishna, of Chalamareddipalle here and Ramanji Das, of Beedi Colony in Kadapa and 40 workers brought from Tiruvannamalai, Salem and Villupuram districts in Tamil Nadu.

They were arrested under the provisions of the A.P. Forest Act 1967 and the A.P. Sandalwood and Red Sanderwood Transit Rules 1967 and the PDPP Act, the DSP said.

Kadapa SP G.V.G. Ashok Kumar was urged to reward the circle inspectors and sub-inspectors of Vallur, Pendlimarry, Chintakommadinne and Chinna Chowk, Mr. Rajeswar Reddy added.

The two red sander smugglers and 40 workers felled red sander trees near the pilgrim centre, Polathala, in Pendlimarry mandal and were transporting the contraband to Bangalore, when they were caught, the Kadapa DSP said. They were produced in court and sent to remand to Kadapa Central Prison.

Five red sanders smugglers nabbed in Chittoor

In a major breakthrough, the Chittoor police on Thursday nabbed five notorious red sanders smugglers on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border (between Satyavedu and Uttukottai), and seized two SUVs, red sander logs worth over Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 4 lakh in cash.

The Superintendent of Police (Chittoor), P.H.D. Ramakrishna disclosed the details to the media here. The nabbed are Riyaz Khan (40) from Katikahalli, Bangalore rural, Saravanan (43) of Perambudur, Chennai, Lakshman Naik (43) from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Ramesh alias Oil Ramesh (34) of Iruvaram in Chittoor town, and Vijay Kumar (44) of New Balaji Colony in Chittoor town. The SP said the accused would be booked under the PD (Preventive Detention) Act.

During interrogation, it was found that Riyaz Khan was on the Most Waned List at several police stations in south India. Khan started his red sanders smuggling activity in 1999. He evolved a network with Delhi as the centre, procuring stocks from as many as 40 smugglers in Kadapa and Chittoor districts. Having supplied thousands of tonnes of the precious logs on the international market during the past one-and-a-half decades, Khan successfully evaded capture each time. The police found that Khan’s monthly income in recent years stood at over Rs. 15 crore.

Saravanan who commenced the contraband activity a decade ago, is involved in seven cases of red sanders smuggling. He could establish a vital link between the traders and smugglers connecting various important places all over India. Lakshman Naik carries as many as 17 criminal cases on him. The Chittoor-based smugglers Oil Ramesh and Vijay Kumar, are involved in 8 and 14 criminal cases in Chittoor and south India. Both were arrested for the third time.

The SP said that the arrests have galvanized the operation of the police against the red sanders smugglers. Based on the revelations of the nabbed, more arrests are likely in Chittoor and Kadapa districts.

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