Two antique idols seized, seven arrested

An idol wing team headed by additional SP Rajaram intercepted two persons on a two-wheeler with the antique idol of Meenakshi Amman. After nabbing them and extracting information from them, the police team recovered another idol of Rishabhadevar.

Those arrested are identified as Karthik, Abdul Rahman, Moorthy, Kumaran, Arivarasu, Sundaramoorthy and Ashok. Police said Karthik, hailing from Chennai, had a chain snatching case against him. Rishabhadevar’s finger part was found to be chopped by the idol smuggler, probably to find out if there is gold content in it, police noted.

Police are checking if the suspects had done any major deals in illegal antique transactions. They will be taken into custody for detailed interrogation, police said.