CHITTOOR: The Chittoor police on Wednesday apprehended three red sanders smugglers.
They seized 1.5 tonnes of red sanders logs worth over ₹3 crore in the international market, during an inter-State raid at the Katiganahalli village of Bengaluru Rural District.
Chittoor Superintendent of Police Ghattamaneni Srinivas, who supervised the operation, produced the three accused — Syed Fayaz and Afrooz of Katiganahalli, and Afsar of Kolar district — and the seized property at the Parade Grounds.
The logs were procured from Rayalaseema and stocked at illegally operated warehouses, Mr. Srinivas said.
The SP said that during the last couple of days, special squads of the Chittoor Task Force had been active in checking the vehicles at the border check posts and national highways towards Chennai and Bengaluru.
On Tuesday night, the joint highway patrol exercise by the Task Force and the Yadamarri police led to intercepting of a mini-van at Varigapalle on Chittoor outskirts. Two persons were taken into custody following their suspicious movements. On interrogation, they revealed their links with the Katiganahalli warehouses. Immediately, a special party with armed guards rushed to Katiganahalli, and conducted the raids, which continued till early hours of Wednesday.
Of the three operatives, Syed Fayaz is wanted in as many as 16 red sanders smuggling cases in Chittoor and Kadapa districts, having transported over 400 tonnes of logs worth over Rs. 800 crores; and Afsar is wanted in 6 cases in Rayalaseema districts, having smuggled out 200 tonnes of logs since 2013. Afrooz operates as driver for the vehicles carrying the contraband loads across the borders of various states.
Mr. Srinivas said that in spite of the repeated cautions to the operators of illegal warehouses in Katiganahalli, the prohibited trade in red sanders had been continuing unabated. “Surveillance teams are doing their best in detecting the inter-state operations of the smugglers’ network. We shall leave no stone unturned to curb the smuggling activity with an iron hand,” the official said.
