SINGAPORE: The Kadapa police nabbed an international red sanders smuggler Subramanyam, based in Singapore, and five of his associates near Kamballe check-post on the Kadapa-Rayachoti road in Chintakommadinne mandal on Friday and seized 125 red sanders logs weighing 3.50 tonnes, Rs. 3.40 lakh and foreign currency from them.
Nineteen notes of 100 US dollars, one UAE note of 50 Dirhams, a lorry, a car and two mobile phones were also seized from them, Superintendent of Police P.H.D. Ramakrishna told the media in Kadapa on Friday.
The kingpin, Subramanyam, 63, of Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, presently living in Singapore, is a close associate of Sahul Hameed alias Sahul Bhai of Dubai, K.A. Dawood Jagir alias Jakeer, Chen Su Lin and Chen Leong of China, Jimmy and Michael of Hong Kong, Haneefa and David of Singapore and smugglers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the SP said.
Kadapa District Police arrested inter-state/international smugglers like Parthiban, K.A. Dawood Jagir, Chen Chenghai, Chen Cheng Wu, Padmanabhan and Ameer Khaja in the recent past, and based on their confession, intensified efforts and nabbed the kingpin and his associates, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
The five others arrested were Kalivi Venkateshan, 34, of Tadur village in Thiruvallur District; S,M. Sundaram alias Karthikeya, 52, of Chennai; and Gorantla Narasimhulu, 46, Bukke Siva Naik, 26, and Sangatipalli Kondaiah, 24, all of Duvvur mandal in Kadapa district, the SP said.
Subramanyam, whose forefathers migrated and settled in Malaysia, is a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, who worked as an engineer in a private company in Singapore, Mr. Ramakrishna said. He is involved in 17 red sanders smuggling cases in Kadapa district and one in Chittoor district.
Mr. Ramakrishna complimented OSD (Operations) B. Satya Yesubabu, Kadapa Faction Zone DSP B. Sreenivasulu, circle inspectors B.V. Siva Reddy and S. Padmanabhan, sub-tnspectors B. Hema Kumar, N. Raja Rajeswara Reddy, R.V. Konda Reddy and staff who played a pivotal role in arresting the smugglers.
