Bantwal : Two mechanised boats and two tippers have been seized from an unauthorised sand mining place near the Thumbay dam in Bantwal taluk.

It is learnt two persons namely Arif from Mysore and Manoj Shetty from Karkala had cheated the locals by stating that they had secured permission for mining. It was alleged that Gopalraj and Adi from Mysore who had bagged the sub-contract for the Thumbay second dam works had acted in collusion with the illegal sand miners.

The raid was followed after some locals brought the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner. Some mechanical equipment, iron pipes etc were also seized.

There are also reports that sand transported from here was transported to Bangalore.