August 5, 2019
Image credit : Illustrative image
Coimbatore : A total of 11.46 tonnes of red sanders worth Rs 5 crore was seized from a truck and a godown in Tirupur.
Acting on a tipoff, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials here carried out a raid at a private godown near Tirupur on the intervening night of August 1 and 2 and seized the contraband, an official statement said on Monday.
The documents seized during the raid suggested that the red sander logs were kept ready to smuggle out of, it said.
The officials first intercepted a truck carrying the red sanders, weighing 2 tonnes under vegetable load, and took the driver into custody. Based on his confession, officials raided the godown and seized 9.4 tonnes of red sanders, concealed along with some articles meant for exports, it said.
Police arrested, SI Mubarak, V Kannan alias Karthik, Udhuman Farook, Syed Abdul Kasim, Abdul Rahman and Thameem Ansari and two others are said to be involved in smuggling of wildlife articles..
The truck and two cars were also seized.