Four persons were arrested by Tirupattur town police after they recovered red sanders stolen from a government depot at a car shed near Arakkonam town in Ranipet on Thursday.

Police said that the arrested persons were identified as B. Chitti, 37, a resident of Chittoor (A.P), S. Poovarasan, 25, from Tiruttani, R. Ajith, 24, a native of Tirupattur, and G. Satyaraj, 58, the owner of the car shed.

Initial inquiry revealed that on July 18, forest staff at Government Sandalwood Depot in Tirupattur town found that 55 logs of red sanders, weighing 1.75 tonnes, were stolen. The missing red sanders logs have been estimated around ₹50 lakh.

Based on a complaint by forest officials, a case was registered by Tirupattur town police. Subsequently, M. Mahendran, District Forest Officer (DFO), Tirupattur, suspended five forest staff who were on duty at the depot.

Police said that based on a tip-off, two special teams conducted searches in a car shed of a house near Arakkonam town, and seized 133 logs of red sanders weighing around four tonnes, including 1.75 tonnes of red sanders stolen from the government depot.

Investigations found that car shed owner Satyaraj rented-out the shed to Poovarasan for car parking. They told police that Chitti and Ajith were also involved in the incident.

Police said arrested persons were lodged at Central Prison in Vellore. Further probe is under way.

The government depot is used to store sandalwood and red sanders that were seized from smugglers during surprise checks at border areas on Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh. Later, the seized wooden logs were used to make incense sticks.