The Chittoor police on Friday seized 50 red sanders logs worth over Rs. 3 crores in the international market, and four SUVs and arrested six smugglers.
The six, including an international smuggler and his associates, were held in the police station limits of Pichatur, Rompicharla and Mudivedu. The police teams were led by Ghattamaneni Srinivas, Superintendent, and Additional SP (Operations) Yelisala Ratna.
Mr. Ratna told the press here that acting on reliable information about the smugglers’ movements, special teams were posted at vital locations in the district leading to the arrests and seizures.
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The key catch was Riyazulla (39) of Katiganahalli of Bengaluru Rural district, a smuggler having links with operatives in China. He had transported over 200 tonnes of logs, believed to be worth over Rs. 400 crores, in the past three years, he said. Assets worth over Rs. 20 crore belonging to Riyazulla were detected in Karnataka. He is having 18 cases against him Chittoor and Kadapa districts.
C. Annadurai (45) of Semmanatham village of Salem district of Tamilnadu; who has been in the trade since 2006, and transported over 120 tonnes, was also arrested. His assets to the tune of Rs. 10 crores were detected in Tamilnadu. He has seven cases against him in Chittoor district, Mr. Ratna said.
The four others held were: Babu alias Kumar (50) of Dharmapuri district of Tamilnadu; who worked as a translator and assistant to Annadurai and Chinese smugglers; E. Selvaraj (37) of Pandyangal Tittu of Salem district;, who has been in the trade since 2012; D. Chakravarthi (35) of Kollimedu of Tiruvannamalai district of T.N. is doing red sanders smuggling since 2010, with four cases in Chittoor and Kadapa districts; and M. Murugan (36) of Palamaner in Chittoor district were the others held. who has been operating as a middleman, bringing labourers from T.N. and executing the transactions at the lower level. The Chittoor court remanded them in a jail.
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