VELLORE: Vellore police on Friday arrested 20 persons for indulging in gambling and seized nearly Rs 53 lakh in cash in two separate incidents.

Acting on a tip-off, a 30-member team, led by Gudiyattam DSP Ramamurthy, conducted searches at a mangrove near Gudiyattam leading to the arrest of 16 persons from Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Karnataka and seized Rs 52.41 lakh in cash and 15 mobile phones.

The arrested were identified as Srinivasan (40) of Krishnagiri, Yugandan (42), Karthi (36) and Kubendran (23) all from Chittoor in AP, Jithendar Kumar (36), Baskar (31) and Settu (21) all from Chennai, Sridar Kumar (60), Ravi Kumar (36), Raja (48), Govindan (42) and Muniraj (43) all from Bengaluru, Pradeep Kumar (32) of Gudiyattam, Sankar (24) and Bharathi (41) both of Arakkonam and Vetrivel (38) of Tirupattur. Gudiyattam taluk police have registered a case and are investigating.

In the second incident, cash to the tune of Rs 41,500 was seized and four persons were arrested during a raid conducted by Gudiyattam police on a spot inside a reserve forest enar Mordana, the same day. The arrested were identified as Prabakaran (36), Vikki, Arivazhagan and Raja all from nearby areas. Cases were registered and investigations are under way.