Red sanders logs worth 40 lakh seized, 2 held
Continuing the aggressive drive against red sanders smuggling activities, the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel on Monday arrested two smugglers and also seized 24 red sanders logs worth Rs 40 lakh.
Tirupati: Continuing the aggressive drive against red sanders smuggling activities, the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel on Monday arrested two smugglers and also seized 24 red sanders logs worth Rs 40 lakh.
According to official sources, the RSASTF combing party which set out on a search operation early in the morning on Monday in the SV Nagar forest area near SV Zoo Park came across a big contingent of 26 smugglers. They were returning from the deep forest with red sanders logs on their heads to the plain area for taking the precious logs to Tamil Nadu.
Even as the task force personnel warned the smugglers to surrender, they started attacking the police with stones resulting in injuries to one of the task force personnel, Vasu, who sustained injury on his elbow, forcing the combing party to open fire in the air. This deterred the smugglers from raining stones on the task force party and escaped into the forest.
The task force personnel chased them and caught two smugglers while others managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness, leaving behind the logs they were bringing from the forest. Meanwhile, RSASTF chief and DIG M Kantha Rao reached the SV Nagar forest area where the task force arrested the smugglers and began monitoring the search operation to nab the remaining smugglers.
The task force personnel searched the area and recovered 24 logs which were estimated to cost about Rs 40 lakh in the international market. The arrested smugglers were identified as Mani and Periyapayyan, both from Polur taluk of Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.
