Nellore: 2 member gang of thieves arrested

Nellore: Police on Thursday arrested a two-member gang of chronic offenders who stole various items from government schools. 118 ceiling fans, 4 TVs, an AC, a laptop, printer, 75 GM wire coils and two cars worth Rs 10 lakh were recovered from them. The accused have been identified as P Venkata Ratnam (47) of Rachavaripalle village in Duthaluru mandal and Sheikh Munir Basha (40) of Dandupalem village in Prakasam district. Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Additional SP CH Soujanya said that a special party was deployed to nab the offenders as per the directions of SP K Arif Hafeez after receiving complaints from government schools. Following a tip-off, police arrested the accused in Kovvuru on Thursday. According to the ASP, the two were involved in red sandalwood smuggling in Badvel, Marripadu and Udayagiri areas and cases are registered against them in police stations. He was also accused of stealing 100 motorcycles from various places in Nellore district and being involved in eight robbery cases from government schools across the district.