Key red sanders smuggler nabbed by special teams

ANANTAPUR: In an operation that continued for over a month in Rajasthan, Kadapa police nabbed international red sanders smuggler Ashok Kumar Agarwal, kingpin and close associate of Dubai-based smuggler Ali Bhai, at Raghunadhpuri in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The special teams also seized the godown of the smuggler and seized three tonnes of red sanders logs worth around Rs 4 crore along with 44 idols made up of red sander wood.

Kadapa SP Babujee Attada, told media at Kadapa on Thursday that on receipt of information, police teams conducted raid on the godown at Raghunadhpuri and arrested Agarwal. Earlier, Kadapa district police arrested smuggler Syed Nayeem from Bellary City of Karnataka state and seized two tons of red sanders logs from his godown.  Railway Kodur police also arrested smugglers from Rajampet area and seized logs from their possession. During interrogation, they said that they were supplying the wood to Agarwal through Ali Bhai alias Kaka, now in Indonesia.

Kadapa district police collected information about Ali Bhai of Chennai and found that he visits Dubai, Singapore, China and Indonesia frequently to arrange deals for smuggled red sanders. He would transport the logs illegally from India by containers. Following this, three teams were deputed about a month back to Jaipur to track the movements of Agarwal. On  February 9, the teams received information about the location of the smuggler and arrested him and seized the red sanders wood stock from the godown. Agarwal, resident of Gangori Bazar area, Muralipura, Jaipur, runs shop selling idols. He maintains a godown cum idols and other gift items manufacturing unit at Raghunadhpuri area. Kadapa district police had earlier arrested Agarwal in 2015.