Anantapur: In a major breakthrough, the Kadapa police arrested 72 Tamil Nadu wood cutters from a private tourist bus near the Chinna Mandem police  station in www.adprofits.co.uk Kadapa district on Friday. They were trying to enter the  Sundupalle forest pretending to be tourists.
 
The cops also seized 76 red sander logs worth Rs 1.12 crore, 27 axes  and 30 saws, a weighing machine and a packet of rice from the bus.  Arunachalam, a Tamil Nadu-based smuggler engaged the labourers from Salem and Vilupuram districts of TN, hired a private bus  and sent them as tourists. The bus was coming from Madanapalle in  Chittor district to drop the labourers at the Sundupalle forests to  cut red sander trees. Earlier, they had procured 1.5 tonnes of red  sander logs and had dumped it in the bus.
 
Pulivendula ASP, Anbu Rajan had alerted the district police station and Rayachoti rural www.rdni.co.uk circle inspector S. Prabhakar and his team noticed  the tourist bus on the main road near Chinna Mandem police station and tried to stop it at the check post, but the driver did not stop.
 
Later,  the  police detained the driver and noticed that the bus had no AP permit. After interrogation, the www.inkent.co.uk bus leader, Dora Anand, said they were smuggling red sanders. Four persons fled from the spot and a manhunt has been launched to nab Arunachalam. The ASP said they were thinking of sending a letter to the TN.