Chamarajpet police arrested four persons and recovered sandalwood pieces weighing 130 kg and a four-wheeler, all valued at Rs 7.61 lakh.
The suspects are Chand Pasha, 31, a resident of Magadi Road, Syed Muktiyar, 35, DJ Halli, Shakir, 30, of DJ Halli and Imran Sharif, 28, from Hoskote taluk.
The police arrested the suspects after a complaint of sandalwood theft was lodged with the police two years ago. According to the police, the suspects are autorickshaw and truck drivers from Kattigenahalli, Hoskote and Bangalore Rural district. Many residents of Kattigenahalli village are said to be notorious for stealing sandalwood.
They identify places where sandalwood trees are grown and chop them during the night and smuggle them. The suspects chopped a sandalwood tree in the compound of Dr B P Alan Harinarayan on Bull Temple Road, Shankarpura on the night of August 23, 2010. The police and forest officials constituted a special team to nab the suspects. Recently, the special team was tipped that some people were trying to sell sandalwood pieces near Horse Park on Mysore Road. The team rushed to the spot and arrested the suspects and recovered the sandalwood pieces which were packed in gunny bags.
The suspects were involved in similar thefts in JC Nagar, Banashankari and Sanjaynagar areas, the police said.
Five held for theft
The Wilson Garden Police arrested five persons and recovered 70 television sets and more than 100 stereos, all valued at Rs 40 lakh.
According to the police, the suspects are: Vimal Kumar, 25, a resident of Kolar Gold Fields, Rakshith, 25, of Kolar Gold Fields, P Srinath, 27, of Bangarpet, Deenu Himachal, 25, of Bangarpet and C Muniraju, 36, of CV Raman Nagar. Another suspect Amith Kumar Singh, a native of Khanapur in Belgaum district, is still at large.
Police said Amith registered a shop, claiming to repair high-end models of electronic goods. He named it as AAKS 24X7 and gave a fake address in Chamarajpet. He issued advertisements through internet and claimed that his team of experts would visit houses and repair electronic goods. He also registered his shop with Just Dial, a search engine of contact numbers.
Amith and his team visited customers’ houses and collected electronic goods for repair, but never returned them. The suspects sold the stolen goods after repairing them. They cheated several customers this way. Based on the complaints, the police arrested them recently.