Bengaluru: Man tries to smuggle Red sandalwood in 'Pushpa' style; gets arrested

A red sandalwood smuggler in Bengaluru, who was inspired after watching the movie 'Pushpa', tried to smuggle red sandalwood in true movie style. Allu Arjun-starrer Telugu movie Pushpa’s dialogues and songs have been the talk of the town. All movie stars, cricketers, social media influencers, and fans are posting videos with Pushpa’s dialogues or songs.

A Bengaluru-based driver, who was inspired by the tricks of smuggling on reel tried to replicate the same trick while smuggling red sandalwood wood in his truck in real life. Yasin Inayithulla was smuggling red sandalwood in his truck en route from the Karnataka-Andhra border to Maharashtra. When he crossed the border, Maharashtra police in Gandhi Chowk of Meeraj Nagar in Sangli district nabbed him. Subsequently, the police seized the sandalwood worth Rs 2.45 crore along with his truck worth Rs 10 lakh.

Bengaluru-based driver arrested for smuggling red sandalwood

Briefing about the incident, Sangli Superintendent of Police Dikshit Gedam said, "We had received confidential information about illegal transportation of sandalwood. Based on this tip-off, we launched a joint operation with the forest officials and carried out a raid at Zakat Nakka. During this raid, we seized one vehicle and arrested one accused. We found around 1 ton of sandalwood worth Rs 2.45 cr and the vehicle is worth Rs 10 lakhs. We had registered the case under IPC sections 379, 34 and various sections of the forest act have also been invoked."

In the movie Pushpa, actor Allu Arjun is seen smuggling red sandalwood by loading wood in the truck first, followed by milk. Inspired by this scene, Yasin had loaded the truck with red sandalwood first and on top of that, he loaded fruits and vegetable boxes. On the vehicle, he had pasted a sticker of COVID-19 essential products. 

The smuggler somehow crossed the Karnataka border without any hassle from the police, but once he crossed the border, he got caught by the Maharashtra Police. Now, the police are investigating to ascertain the network behind him and how they operate.