In a major catch, the police on Monday arrested international red sander smuggler Boddeti Venkata Ramana (36) a supervisor Bodde Srinivasulu (30) and four workers and seized 60 red sander logs from a van on Monday.
Based on their confession, the police detected a red sanders dump in the forest area near Narvakatipalle village in Vontimitta mandal and seized 100 logs, weighing 4.5 tonnes and worth Rs. 9 crore, Kadapa SP Navin Gulati told reporters here. The four arrested workers were identified as -- Bukke Chandra Naik (30), Mude Sreenu Naik (31), Nathukuri Ramana (30), and Abbaiahgari Somaiah (50).
The SP said Venkata Ramana had been smuggling red sanders since the past eight years in association with two smugglers -- Jangala Siva Sankar and Veerabhadraiah. He had developed contacts with another international smuggler Fayaz of Katiganahalli in Karnataka and supplied four-lorry loads of red sander logs to him at Rs. 13.50 lakh per tonne, the SP added.
Venkata Ramana was accused in 14 smuggling cases.
