Solaiyur Selvam Arrested
Special teams of the Coimbatore City Police arrested in the small hours of Thursday Solaiyur Selvam, one of the members of the sandalwood smuggling gang that robbed two motorcycle policemen of their pistol at Bharathi Park in the city on February 23.One of the members of the sandalwood smuggling gang that robbed two motorcycle policemen of their pistol at Bharathi ParkThe gang assaulted the police personnel and escaped with a nine mm pistol and cellular phone.The incident took place when they entered the Bharathi Park where the gang had felled a sandalwood tree and was cutting another tree. City Police Commissioner C.K. Gandhirajan formed special teams which fanned out towards destinations in Northern Kerala. One of the teams arrested three members of the gang at Naatukkal police limits in Palakkad district of Kerala on March 1 and recovered a jeep used by the gang for smuggling sandalwood. The members of the special team were given meritorious services entries and cash rewards to a tune of Rs. 1 lakh on Wednesday.
The special teams intensified the hunt for remaining seven members that included two rowdy elements from Southern districts of Tamil Nadu and A. Solaiyur Selvam was considered to be an accused involved in identifying sandalwood trees in and around Coimbatore and in bringing the smuggling gang from Kerala.Mr. Gandhirajan said the special teams picked him up from Kumaran Estate jungle area near Kathalaikandi near Solaiyur at 3 a.m. on Thursday.Based on his confession, a three-foot long saw used for cutting trees abandoned by the gang in Koilmedu area was recovered.
