Police today seized 1.1 tonne red sandalwood seized from three vehicles and arrested four suspected smugglers near P P Kunta check post on outskirts of Badvel town here.
Police seized 52 logs of red sanders. The arrested persons, identified as T Venkateswara Reddy, Shaikh Naveed, Shaikh Sajid and Shaikh Aleef alias Arif, are suspected to have links with red sanders smugglers based in Nepal, Rajasthan and Haryana, Kadapa superintendent of police Naveen Gulati said.
Among the accused, Reddy had six cases pending against him, he said.
Police impounded two cars and a mini truck used for transporting the red sanders, the officer said.
The smugglers were supplying the red sandalwood to Nepal-based smugglers and also have links in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, Gulati said.
Explaining the modus operandi, he said the accused used to transport the logs through containers in the guise of parcels to Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Delhi.
They used to send the logs to China through Nepal after hiding them in godowns situated near Nepal border, Gulati said.
Kadapa police, in a joint operation with the Anti-Red Sanders Special Task Force, had on April 5 seized 2.2 tonne of smuggled red sanders, worth Rs 1 crore, from a town bordering Nepal in Bihar and brought the logs to Kadapa, he said.
