A six-member red sander smuggler gang, headed by Uday Bhaskar alias Ravi Kumar, was operating in the city for the last few months and reportedly had transported the precious timbers to various destinations.
On November 3, Chittoor Task Force, with the help of Penamaluru police, raided a warehouse at New Auto Nagar and seized huge quantity of red sanders. The Chittoor police arrested Uday Bhaskar hailing from Nellore, his accomplices-- Y. Ramakrishna Reddy and C. Damodar Naidu-- and a driver.
During investigation, it was revealed that Bhaskar had been in the illegal trade for the last eight years and smuggled red sanders worth crores of rupees. Thinking that Vijayawada was a safe zone, he recently opened a depot in here to store the smuggled logs, said Chittoor Superintendent of Police G. Srinivas.
“The accused, who introduced himself as a civil contractor, hired a godown from Narayana Rao for Rs.12,000 a month on the pretext of storing construction material. The gang smuggled red sander logs from Seshachalam forests to Vijayawada several times,” said Task Force SI D. Munuswamy.
No vigilDuring interrogation, the gang is understood to have confessed that it had transported the red sanders to Vijayawada through various modes on different routes. As there was no check on the highway and police never intercepted their vehicles, it had become easy to shift the timber, smugglers reportedly told the police.
Good network“They shifted red sanders logs to Chennai and Mumbai ports from Vijayawada. From there, the stocks would be sent to international market. Smugglers have established links with foreign customers through brokers. They have maintained warehouses at different points for easy shifting the logs to ports,” said an officer.
Police are trying to find out whether any other smuggler gang is operating from Vijayawada. A hunt has been launched to nab the remaining accused in the case, said the Chittoor police.
