3 held with SUV loaded with Red Sanders

Three people transporting 872 kilograms of Red Sanders to Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Kadugodi police on Friday.

The police recovered the Red Sanders (pterocarpus santalinus) from the trio’s SUV.

The arrested are Madhu Ponnuswamy (37) and Palani M (40), both of Salem, and Palani Murugan (25), from Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu

Following a tip-off, a police patrolling team intercepted the vehicle heading to Hosur near the Khaji Sonnenahalli Gate in Whitefield and arrested the trio red-handed.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects sourced the Red Sanders from a forest in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. According to the police, the three were entrusted with transporting the Red Sanders from Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru, where another person was waiting to transport it further for delivery.

The police caught the men when they were waiting to hand over the delivery of the precious wood.