Coimbatore: Continuing their crackdown on plundering of river sand in Noyyal river, police and revenue officials seized vehicles used for sand smuggling on Wednesday.Alandurai and Karunya police officers had apprehended a truck and bullock cart carrying sand early Wednesday morning. While two men fled from the vehicles, police managed to nab one man involved in smuggling. He was identified as N Saravanan. Rural police arrested and remanded him in judicial custody.“We noticed the tuck loaded with sand near Pudhupathi area during the night patrol. When we stopped the truck, the driver ran away. The truck was seized and a case was registered,” zonal deputy tahsildhar Shanmugham said. This was the third arrest in the last five days, he said. “We have alerted all revenue officials and police officers. We have also formed teams with village administrative officer, revenue officials and police,” he added.Karunya Nagar sub-inspector had noticed the bullock cart laden with sand on Wednesday morning. “We stopped the cart and caught the man riding it. He has been remanded in judicial custody,” investigating officer Navaneethakrishnan said.Meanwhile, district administration officials said that they will take strict legal action against sand smugglers from now on. “We are planning to form village committees with 10 volunteers to stop sand smuggling. They will be provided with ID cards. They will go on night rounds and inform us about sand theft. We have decided to take stringent action and book cases. We want to control it for the next two months until the monsoon arrives ,” said an official.To keep the pressure on the authorities and to ensure that there is public participation in preventing the plunder, city-based NGOs also continued to hold meetings with farmers and like-minded environmentalists to find ways to curb sand smuggling.

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