Udupi: Illegal sand mining near Malpe busted

Udupi: The Department of Mines & Geology on Tuesday, based on a tip-off, busted an illegal sand mining site on the Swarna river at Padutonse near Malpe.

The operator of the sand mining site, Irshad, was caught in March for illegal sand mining and was let off after a fine.

However, he restarted his operations secretly.

Officials seized four boats and sand extraction equipment from the site.