TIRUPATI: Anantapur district police wing on Saturday seized sandalwood worth Rs 1.27 crore, which was illegally smuggled and stacked at a private oil industry near Basavanapalli village in Amarapuram mandal in Andhra Pradesh.
Anantapur superintendent of police Kaginelli Fakeerappa who recently received reliable information related to the illegal smuggling of sandalwood in Amarapuram mandal had constituted a special team comprising police and forest department officials.
Following the directions of Anantapur SP, Penukonda DSP N Ramya and her team conducted raids at United Oil Industries at Basavanapalli village and seized 3983.45 kgs of sandalwood sticks concealed in 188 bags and 16 kgs of sandalwood oil at the factory premises.
Police arrested three persons identified as A Krishnan (53) of Kerala, Sankesh Abdul Rahman (48) and KP Mohammed Kutti of Kerala.
Further investigation revealed that the sandalwood sticks and oil were smuggled by the trio in large quantities from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
