While two Chinese nationals escaped during the raid, the DHL staffers were caught.The Kadapa Police said the capture of Zhang is a major catch, the culmination of a ten-day operation in Koramangala and Katikanahalli areas in Bengaluru.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Pulivendula) K.K.N. Anburajan said the breakthrough came on June 12 when a smuggling operative, Liyakath Ali (33), was nabbed at Koramangala. Information extracted from him led to a Chinese national named Chang Pema Tharu alias Chak Dhar (26), which in turn led to the arrest of another Chinese national, Fian Wu Qinsan (26), two days later.Sniffing a major discovery, the sleuths stepped up their operation in Bengaluru, leading to Monday’s arrest of Zhang.Mr Anburajan said,
"One of the two DHL employees, Saravannan, also confessed to operating a red sanders godown in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. We are working on that angle now.”At the Katikanahali godown, the sleuths seized A grade red sanders material (considered the costliest grade) worth over Rs 1 crore. Police suspect there may have been more, but stocks may have been moved out since the earlier arrests.
Police said Fian Wu Qinsan and Zhang Yong Zhow were smugglers who managed an extensive network across the Ind-Bhutan and Sino-Tibetan borders. Wu Qinsan is also considered the “most notorious red don.”
The Chinese men are all said to hail from Ximpu province in China. Zhang and the two DHL staffers were brought to a court at Rayachoti at noon on Monday, and were remanded in the local jail.Rohini Katoch Sepat, the DCP (southeast division) of the Bengaluru Police, who gave logistic support to the operation said the AP policemen had come with a search warrant for a Chinese national. The Bengaluru police helped their AP counterparts to search a rented house on the old airport road.
