Smugglers luring students, women

• District SP says red sanders operatives are taking the help of local students, workers and even women for logistical support
• Smugglers in the guise of devotees on pilgrimage are giving a slip to police
• Locals mostly from lower strata of society are falling prey to smugglers to make a quick buck

Tirupati: The red sanders smuggling from the Seshachalam forests of Chittoor district remain far from eradicated with the smuggling operatives changing their tactics outwitting the agencies involved in counter-smuggling operation

What is baffling the police, is that smugglers are taking the help of locals in the forest fringe villages and colonies for their nefarious activities. The recent arrest of as many as 41 locals from various localities in and around Tirupati, in the past six weeks, revealed startling facts that even educated youth, auto drivers and workers besides women being involved in the illegal red sanders smuggling, according to Tirupati urban SP Gopinath Jatti.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Gopinath said that the locals were found providing the much-needed logistics to the smugglers since smugglers were able to luring the locals to get them provisions and transport, he said and added some of them arrested include students who are acting as pilots, while the workers and auto drivers are providing transport and accompanying the smugglers from the road to the forest area, he added.

In this connection, SP said few women were also found involved in providing logistics to the smugglers, however did not disclose their identity and added that this was also quite alarming. He further said the locals mostly poor and belonging to lower strata of society, who are eager to make quick buck are falling prey to the smugglers and helping them, unaware of the serious consequences.

SP said 10 smugglers were arrested on Feb 9, in Chaitanyapuram under Tiruchanur police limits, while they were smuggling 10 red sanders logs worth Rs 14 lakh, three were found to be students. They include Dinakar studying B Com, Mahammad Ali doing his BBA first year and Muralidhar of Vellore who is a fourth year Engineering student (in Vellore) Tamil Nadu.

Another arrested was Ramesh a home guard attached to traffic police in Vellore, SP added. On the anti-smuggling operations held since January this year he said, 36 special parties conducted 42 combing operations leading to the arrest of 88 smugglers including 41 locals and 47 from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In all 7,344 kgs of 316 redsander logs worth about Rs 3.6 core was seized, besides 13 vehicles. Claiming that police were able to arrest 60-70 percent of redsander smuggling in Seshachalam forests, he said efforts are on to wipe out smuggling from the district.

He fervently appealed the media particularly the Tamil media to sensitize those in the districts adjoining Chittoor against being lured by the smugglers, duly explaining the repercussions of the illegal activity. SP also urged the parents to keep a watch on their wards movement to check them from going astray.