The police have arrested a Dubai-based international red sanders smuggler, Mohammed Khasim Alifuddeen, 49, and five of his key aides at the Forest Check Post Near Kudali village on Mydukur-Badvel road in Mydukur Mandal in Kadapa district.
Over 110 red sanders logs weighing 2.10 tonnes, a Toyota Qualis car and a lorry, Rs. 2,000, six mobile phones and foreign currency, including one note of 10 U.S Dollars, a note of five Dinars of Bahrain, three notes of one Riyal of Qatar, two notes of Rs. 100 of Sri Lanka and six notes of Rs. 20 of Sri Lanka were seized from them, Kadapa SP P.H.D. Ramakrishna said while producing them at a media conference in Kadapa on Monday.
Alifuddeen, who was an advocate of notorious red sanders smuggler Sahul Hameed of Dubai, turned red sanders smuggler and smuggled logs from India to Dubai, China and Malaysia, the SP said.
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Alifuddeen, who practised as an advocate in Madras High Court since 1996, and moved to Dubai, was accused in 11 red sanders smuggling cases in Kadapa district and seven in Chittoor district.
He was arrested on the confession of notorious smugglers arrested by Kadapa district police, the SP said.
The others arrested were a polytechnic student Mohammad Imran, 23, of Mettur; and P. Chandra, 21, of Puthalapattu, both in Chittoor district; Avili Polaiah, 30, of Duvvur and Madaka Babu, 35, of Regallapalli village in Proddatur Mandal, both in Kadapa district; and Govinda Raj, 34, of Salem in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
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Steps would be taken to attach his properties as per the new amendment of A.P. Forest Act, 1967, after identifying them during the investigation, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
The SP complimented Additional SP (Operations) B. Sathya Yesubabu, Kadapa Faction Zone DSP B. Sreenivasulu, circle inspectors Y. Venkateswarlu and S. Padmanabhan, sub-inspectors B. Hema Kumar, R.V. Konda Reddy, Lingappa and staff for arresting the smugglers.