3 red sanders smugglers held, logs, bikes worth 1 cr seized

Chittoor/Nellore: In a joint operation, the Chittoor Task Force and the inspectors of S R Puram, Palamaner, Yerravanipalyam and Punganur police stations nabbed three international red sanders smugglers and seven labourers here on Wednesday.
According to Chittoor SP G Srinivas, the police recovered 56 red sanders logs, 4 four-wheelers and 4 bikes total worth Rs 1 crore from them.
Addressing a press conference here, the SP said that the task force personnel arrested three international red sanders smugglers Sayyad Shahajaj Alam (36), native of Meera Road, Mumbai, Pardhasaradhi (46), resident of Basavanagar, Bengaluru, Abhul Rasheed (45), resident of Mangalore, Karnataka, along with eight workers R Balakrishna (28), R Venkatesh (24) , Y Raghu (21), K Lakshmi Reddy (39), S Narayana (50), P Chinna Venkatesh (30), R Venkata Ramana (31) and Bujji Reddy (40), all residents of Chittoor district.
He said that smuggler Sayyad Alam exported over 15 tonnes of red sanders abroad and earned over Rs 10 crore so far. He has close contacts with several notorious international smugglers such as Salim and others.
He started his red sanders smuggling business in 2015 and number of cases were registered against him in different police stations.
Another smuggler Pardhasaradhi exported over 20 tonnes of red sanders to China, Hong Kong and other countries. There are four criminal cases registered against him in various police stations in Chittoor district.
Abdul Rasheed, a kingpin in red sanders smuggling, has exported over 10 tonnes of red sanders to various countries and earned more than Rs 10 crore. He was earlier arrested by Karnataka police and cases like gold smuggling, attempt to murder and others were registered against him.
These three international smugglers have close nexus with the eight workers who were nabbed by the Chittoor district police, SP Srinivas added.
The SP lauded the police who put in extraordinary efforts to trap the international red sanders smugglers. He said awards and meritorious certificates would be presented to the police officers and staff of Palamaner, Yerravanipalem, S R Puram and Punganur police stations.
ASP V Ratna (Operations), Palamaner DSP Sankar and others police officers were present. Meanwhile, continuing the crackdown on red sanders smuggling, the Nellore district police arrested four labourers while they were smuggling red sanders logs near Venkatagiri on Wednesday and logs worth Rs 7.44 lakh were recovered from them.
Disclosing this to media, Guduru Divisional Superintendent of Police Badepalli Srinivas said that on a tip-off, the police in association with the forest department personnel had raided Utucheruvu area under Chelikampadu panchayat limits and apprehended the workers.
The accused were identified as Vijay and Chiranjeevi of Kodur in Railwaykodur, Sivakumar of Srikalahasti and Mallikarjuna of Venkatagiri. However, the kingpin of the smuggling racket is at large.
The police recovered 10 red sanders logs weighing 248 kg from them.