AP police arrest eight persons for stealing half a tonne of red sanders logs

Chittoor: Andhra Pradesh police arrested a gang of eight interstate thieves and seized 16 red sanders logs weighing half a tonne, valued at Rs 30 lakh, on Monday in Chittoor district, including confiscating two vehicles.

On receiving a a tipoff that red sanders logs are being illegally transported from Tirupati Seshachalam forest, Bangarupalya police kept vigil on Chittoor-Palamaner road at Mahasamudram toll gate.

As police were stopping vehicles for a search, they found two cars heading in the direction of Bengaluru suspicious, a press note shared by the police on Monday said."On searching these cars, police recovered 16 red sanders logs."

Police identified Imran from Kattigenahalli in Karnataka as the main accused in the case. He is on the run but police managed to apprehend eight persons from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu: Abdul Rahiman (26) K Mahendran (35), R Kaliyappan (42), P Mahadevan (36), G Sivan (45), R Chinna Thambi (62), M Shiva Shankar (30) and K Ravi (36).

Besides Imran, five more accused persons from Tamil Nadu are on the run, namely Venkatesh, Sundaramurthy, Wasim, Vedi and Durai. Police are on the hunt for them.