Mangaluru : The Dakshina Kannada police on Wednesday arrested three persons allegedly involved in stealing pick-up vehicles from the district and using it for the illegal sand transportation in Kumbla and other parts of Kerala.

The arrested have been identified as Moiuddin Sharif (26), Dawood Zaleel (21) and Moieddin Irshad (21) from Kumbla in Kerala.

They were allegedly involved in the theft of five pick-up vehicles and two cars from Mangaluru, Bantwal and Vitla stations of the district over the last seven months, said Superintendent of Police Sharanappa S.D.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Sharanappa said that the arrested were using these stolen vehicles for allegedly illegally transporting sand in cement bags to different parts of Kerala.

One such illegal transportation was done few days ago, he said.

Mr. Sharanappa said that they are searching for other persons associated with them. “We cannot rule out the possibility of far more stolen vehicles being used for illegal sand transportation,” he said. Investigation was being done to find the source of sand and the police were in touch with their Kerala counterparts for further investigation, he said.