Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Coimbatore, seized 11.46 tonnes of red sanders and arrested seven persons in an operation, which was based on specific intelligence inputs, on August 1 and 2.
According to official sources, the seized red sanders were meant for smuggling out of the country.
The officials intercepted a truck that was carrying about two tonnes of red sanders, concealed beneath vegetables. The trail led to a godown in Tiruppur where nine tonnes of red sanders were found along with export-related documents. The origin of the red sanders is suspected to be Andhra Pradesh.
Initially, the officials arrested the truck driver and two financiers. Within hours, four more persons were arrested and they were the masterminds behind the entire operation. Two of them were involved in a case of wildlife smuggling under investigation by the DRI’s Zonal unit in Maharashtra.
Of the seven arrested, DRI has identified only six and they are S.I. Mubarak (47), V. Kannan alias Karthik (25), Udhuman Farook (33), A. Syed Abdul Kasim (36), K. Abdul Rahman (39), and Thameem Ansari (36).
Further investigations are on, the officials said.
