KADAPA:The Kadapa Red Sanders’ Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF-K) personnel nabbed a notorious international smuggler, Badrul Hasan, in New Delhi in the early hours of Monday and seized eight tonnes of red sanders logs worth `16 crore from a local godown.
According to police, acting on a tip-off, a special team comprising five policemen, led by RSASTF DSP Aravind Babu, conducted a search operation in New Delhi for 54-year-old B Hasan alias Hasan Bhai, who played a key role in exporting red sanders logs from Seshachalam forest to various international destinations.
The logs transported from Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra were delivered at a local point in New Delhi and they were kept in a godown for a few days until the international borders were found to be clear and safe to cross. One of the key strategy planners, Badrul Hasan used to export the logs to neighbouring north-eastern countries like Nepal and China. The cost of the property exported was never less than `1 crore, an RSASTF official said.
A special team was formed after the police noticed movements of the smuggler in Delhi. The team also found eight tonnes of trimmed red sanders logs stored illegally in one of the local godowns.
Meanwhile, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday directed the forensic science experts to complete tests, including the DNA tests, and submit a report to it by September 29 in the Seshachalam encounter case.