Police bust 'Pushpa' inspired smuggling gang in Balapalli, seize red sanders worth Rs. 20 lakh
Sleuths of the Tirupati Task Force busted a gang of smugglers attempting to smuggle red sanders in an ambulance and seized 10 logs of red sanders
- Crime
NewsTAP Bureau- Updated On:4 Aug 2023 2:24 PM GMT
TIRUMALA: Sleuths of the Tirupati Task Force busted a gang of smugglers attempting to smuggle red sanders in an ambulance and seized 10 logs of red sanders worth Rs 20 lakhs from their possession. Ten of the fourteen persons involved were arrested on Friday.
The smuggling, interestingly enough, seemed to be inspired by the movie “Pushpa”.
The police team, led by RSI Raghavendra and RI Chiranjeevi, conducted a search operation in the Balapalli forest area near Railway Koduru under the supervision of DSP Muralidhar. During this operation, they caught a man wandering on his motorcycle in the area, who refused to respond to their questions. The police apprehended him and continued their interrogation, which led them to the spot where they busted the group attempting to smuggle the logs.
Investigation revealed that a man named Ramana Reddy from Vinjamuru in Nellore district was involved in hiring labourers and sending them to Bangalore from Tamil Nadu. Later, a man named Prasad would transport the Tamil labourers to Tirupati via Anantapur and Gutti to the Balapalli forest area.
The team found that logs were being loaded into an ambulance, with a person named Lakshminarasaiyya serving as the driver, and two others named Prasad and Mahesh pretending to be patients.
The arrested individuals included Nimmala Prasad (49), Lakshmi Narasaiah (47) from Kadapa, G. Satish Kumar (37) from Proddatur, Maridiri (61) from Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, Govindan (45), Kali (49), G. Sethu (35), Kashi (35), Hari (25), and Raju Manikyam (40). A special team was appointed to search for the remaining people.
