Trending Now
- “If Edappadi Palaniswami permits, a thousand young members from the Virudhunagar district AIADMK are prepared to take up arms and engage in battle under my command.” – Former AIADMK Minister Rajendra Balaji
- “India is ready to deal with any counter-attack by Pakistan” – Wing Commander Vyomika Singh
- Central govt orders extension of CBI Director Praveen Sood’s tenure for another year
Coimbatore
174 held for redsander smuggling
March 9, 2017
Chennai: In a swoop down on redsander smugglers, Andhra Pradesh police arrested 174 persons from Tamil Nadu in two operations.
Sources said that 16 were held at Kajupet in Cuddapah district which led to information on others and police arrested the rest from Lankamalla. They also seized 10 kg of redsanders and two vehicles.
The arrested are said to be from Thiruvannamalai and Villupuram districts. Sources added that the police have launched a hunt in Seshachalam forest area and more are likely to be arrested. The massive crackdown has sent shock waves in Tamil Nadu, and it is being claimed labourers and woodcutters were roped in for daily wages.
It is also being alleged that the arrests of Tamils under the charges of smuggling red sanders are becoming a regular feature.
It was only last month that Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force personnel recovered 193 red sanders logs, seized four vehicles and nabbed nine persons in three separate incidents in Chittoor and Cuddapah districts.
The logs, weighing more than five tonnes, were estimated to fetch more than Rs 15 crore in the international market.
A few days before this, the Chittoor II-Town police nabbed six red sander smugglers from Tamil Nadu found to be moving suspiciously in the bushes at Obanapalle locality along the Bengaluru bypass road. Six red sanders logs and an SUV were seized.
