The Anantapur District Police on Tuesday busted an international red sanders smuggling gang and confiscated more than 3 tonnes of logs meant for China.
Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli while presenting the 19 accused of smuggling the red sanders by collecting them from Kadapa and Chittoor districts said that the gang used to source the wood logs from the Rayalaseema districts and store them in godowns in Tamil Nadu. From Tindivanam in Tamil Nadu, the smugglers used to ferry them to China via Sri Lanka.
The gang believed to be run by the two accused Shul Bhai and Bilal by staying in different countries and earning fat amount by smuggling red sanders from the country was transporting the 165 logs weighing 3.305 tonnes in five vehicles from Badvel in Kadapa district to Bengaluru via Kodikonda and Chilamattur.
The Penukonda DSP N. Ramya along with Hindupur Rural Circle Inspector their staff intercepted five vehicles and found the red sander logs in them and arrested the 19 persons attached to the criminal activity. The police also confiscated 19 cell phones along with the five vehicles. The two key accused and gang leaders are yet to be arrested, while 8 out of those arrested were from Tamil Nadu, 5 from Kadapa, 6 from Chittoor, 1 from Anantapur, and 1 from Nellore.
All the accused were in their ‘30s and ‘40s and of them, E. Kamesh, 42, from Chennai was leading them in this operation and is believed to be close to the kingpins. J. Guravayya from Tirupati and Nandyala Ramakrishna from Kadapa used to identify the trees and get them cut in the forest, the SP said.
