Officials of the Central Crime Branch on Tuesday raided a godown in Singapura Layout and recovered nearly 2,000 kgs of red sanders that were to be dispatched to Chennai and Mumbai from and then exported to countries in East Asia.
The police arrested Sheikh Anees, 41, and Mohammed Iqbal, 40, allegedly part of an inter-State gang. “Their job was to store and smuggle red sanders to their contacts in neighbouring States,” said the police.
The racket was busted when a team of officials intercepted an SUV carrying red sander logs to a godown. The police caught Anees and recovered 417 kg of red sanders logs from him.
Anees took the police to the godown where he was supposed to deliver the consignment. The remaining 1,544 kg of red sanders was stored here. “At the godown, we arrested Iqbal who confessed that they would get the consignments from their contact in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” the police said. The value of the seized wood is estimated to be around ₹60 lakh.
According to the police, Bengaluru is a major transit point for these smugglers. “We suspect that more people are involved in the racket and efforts are on to track them down,” they said.
