COIMBATORE: The Kadapa district police from Andhra Pradesh arrested red sanders smuggler A Hakkim Basha alias Basha Bhai, 41, on Friday with the help of the Coimbatore city police.
Basha is facing several red sanders smuggling cases in Kadapa district.
Basha, who hails from Kaveri Nagar at Kuniyamuthur in Coimbatore, operated a gang to smuggle red sanders.
On Monday, a group of men from Salem and locals from Kadapa were smuggling red sanders logs in a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and a car. The smugglers escaped from a police check. Police chased them.
The SUV and the car met with an accident on the Kadapa -Tadipatri Road. The SUV hit the diesel tank of a tipper truck, causing a fire. The fire spread to the SUV and the car.
Four smugglers were charred to death and two others suffered burn injuries. Red sanders logs were also burnt. The survivors were admitted to a hospital in Kadapa.
According to a police officer in Coimbatore city, the two survivors told the Kadapa police that they were hired by Basha of Coimbatore to smuggle red sanders. Kadappa district superintendent of police K K N Anburajan contacted his counterpart in Coimbatore. He sent a team of police to Coimbatore to nab Basha Bhai.
The police managed to trace the whereabouts of Basha and arrested him.
He would be taken to Kadapa. “Our team will interrogate him thoroughly, and we can furnish further information on Saturday,” Kadappa SP Anburajan told TOI.