Chittoor: Red Sanders Smuggling A La Pushpa Style, Not Sure Who Did It First

CHITTOOR: A 15-member interstate gang was arrested in Chittoor district for smuggling red sanders, where police seized logs worth Rs 1 crore on Thursday. But what was surprising was the modus operandi used by smugglers to transport the red sanders - an ambulance and an auto meant for transporting water cans …a la Pushpa style!

Speaking to reporters at the Armed Reserve Office at Chittoor on Thursday, SP Y Rishanth Reddy said that Chittoor rural (east) circle inspector K Balayya and his team conducted vehicular checks near the Mopakshi junction along the Chittoor-Vellore highway on Wednesday, arrested a gang who was smuggling red sanders in the guise of transporting a patient in an ambulance and another gang who was smuggling red logs under the guise of an auto supplying water cans from the Seshachalam forest.

As they were checking vehicles in the junction they stopped to check an ambulance passing by. There were 15 people in it and four of them escaped while being checked. The rest of them were asked to step down from the ambulance and police discovered  36 red sander logs, knives, and machetes hidden in the ambulance. Shivaji, Kashi, Devaraj, Radhakrishna, Selvam, Kuppuswamy, Prashant, Jaipal, Udaykumar, Sathyaraj, and Bhagyaraj from Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu were arrested. The SP said there were cases already registered against the accused in several police stations.

When the West CI Srinivas Reddy and Gudipala SI Rajasekhar conducted vehicle inspections on the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway near Chittoor they seized an auto supplying water cans with 35 red sander logs hidden between the cans. Lakshmipathy, Samuel, Praveen Kumar, and Muthuraj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu were arrested in the case. Police said that efforts are being made to trace the others who fled from the spot.

Also Read: Gang Caught Smuggling Red Sandalwood in Pushpa Style