Ankola: A team of police raided a place at Harwad of Ankola taluk where illegal sand was being transported to Hubli and Dharwad and confiscated one luxury car, two JCB machines and sand worth lakhs of rupees.

The two main accused were identified as president of Agsor Grama Panchayat Gopal Naik alias Hundi Gopu and Rajendra Puttu Pednekar alias Raja Pednekar. Both went absconding while the other two accomplices were arrested by the police. The arrested have been identified as JCB drivers Chandrakanth Anand Gowda and Manohar Kobal. The confiscated luxury car belonged to Gopal, it is learnt.

The locals are worried because of the active sand mafia in the place and many reports regarding this were published in the media. Deputy commissioner Nakul S S had requested the locals to report the illegal sand mafia going on in the place. The  Zilla SP compiled a team to track down the people involved in the illegal practice and were successful in nabbing a group. 

A case was filed in the district session court and Ankola Police station and a hunt is on for the absconding suspects.