The Chittoor Task Force police on Sunday night seized a red sanders dump (of A-Grade variety) that weighed three tonnes and valued at over Rs. 5 crore at Kadanur village of Doddaballapur taluq of Karnataka and brought the dump to Chittoor on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Additional Superintendent of Police (Red Sanders Operations) Y. Ratna said that during the regular night vigil, the Madanapalle police on Sunday evening nabbed a wanted smuggler Mohhammad Altaf Hussain alias Irani Althaf (36) of Chittoor town at Madanapalle.
He is the follower of notorious international smuggler Shariff and is wanted in six cases in Chittoor District. Based on information provided by Altaf, armed task force squad led by Madanapalle Circle Inspector Hanumanthu Naik rushed to Kadanur village in Karnataka and unearthed the 3-tonne dump buried at a private farmhouse belonging to one Munna alias Amzad with the help of a poclainer.
The ASP said that Altaf was a graduate and commenced his red sanders business in 2010 and established links with smugglers based in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the two smugglers - S. Arul and S. Saravanan - of Kilamattur village of Uttangarai taluq of Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu, who were arrested at Bangarupalem near Chittoor in the early hours of Sunday were produced before the local court, which remanded them to judicial custody at Chittoor jail.
Red sanders worth Rs 50 lakh seized
In another incident the forest officials on Monday morning seized an SUV along with 400 kg of 12 red sanders logs at the department's check post on the outskirts of Puttur town, 65 km from here.
Forest Range Officer (Puttur) M. Reddappa said that during the regular checks in the early hours, an SUV on its way towards Chennai bypass road from Renigunta side was stopped at the check post. The inmates abandoned the vehicle and fled.
On inspection, the logs were detected in the SUV. The material is said to be worth over Rs. 50 lakh. The logs and vehicles were shifted to range office. Further investigation is on.
