Indian treasure-seekers hunt bandit's hoard
Fortune hunters are scouring southern India's jungles for the hoard of cash, ivory, sandalwood and animal skins reportedly buried by the country's most notorious brigands.
Police say hundreds of treasure seekers armed with crowbars and spades were moving across to 625 sq miles of thick forest in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states seeking bandit Veerappan's "vast riches", which he is believed to have hidden in remote caves, underground pits and in trees.
The fiercely moustachioed bandit, who murdered over 120 people, kidnapped a film star and cut down large tracts of precious sandalwood, had amassed a massive fortune in nearly 30 years of banditry. He was shot dead aged 60 in 2004.
"Groups of locals regularly venture into the jungle looking for Veerappan's money," one of the district administrators in Karnataka said.
"We have warned them against doing this and turned them back but they ignore us and return to resume their search"
more
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/14/windia114.xml
Fortune hunters are scouring southern India's jungles for the hoard of cash, ivory, sandalwood and animal skins reportedly buried by the country's most notorious brigands.
Police say hundreds of treasure seekers armed with crowbars and spades were moving across to 625 sq miles of thick forest in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states seeking bandit Veerappan's "vast riches", which he is believed to have hidden in remote caves, underground pits and in trees.
The fiercely moustachioed bandit, who murdered over 120 people, kidnapped a film star and cut down large tracts of precious sandalwood, had amassed a massive fortune in nearly 30 years of banditry. He was shot dead aged 60 in 2004.
"Groups of locals regularly venture into the jungle looking for Veerappan's money," one of the district administrators in Karnataka said.
"We have warned them against doing this and turned them back but they ignore us and return to resume their search"
more
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/14/windia114.xml
