Cops suspended for dereliction of duty

Police sub-inspector P M Naveen and head constable Krishnappa, both attached to the Soolibele police station, have been suspended from service for dereliction of duty in relation to the investigation into a Red Sanders racket busted by the Bengaluru Rural district police on Monday.

The police had arrested four Chinese nationals and seized six tonnes of red sanders wood worth Rs 1.50 crore from a shed located in Soolibele in Hoskote taluk. The arrested were identified as Tan Zi Shui, 51; Tol Shoi Yuan, 45; Sir Yee Shai, 25; and Wei Zhiliang, 27.

Inspector General of Police (Central Range) Arun Chakravarthy said that the passports of the suspects had been impounded. “It is learnt that three of them had made multiple entries into the country. It appears to be a huge racket. We are trying to investigate further into the case,” he said. 
Furniture from wood

The suspects were making furniture from red sanders wood at a shed owned by Ramachari who had rented it out to Rafique who claims to be a carpenter and electrician. They were smuggling the wood with the help of a few locals, said the police.

Chakravarthy said, “They had cut the wood and were in the process of crafting it into furniture and then smuggle it to their country and other places. They have been in the City for around four months working on ways to smuggle the wood. They had got the wood through illegal means from the Seshachalam forest range in Andhra Pradesh.” 

Locals involved in the racket will also be arrested after gathering information about them, he said.