15 red sanders smugglers held
In a joint operation by Alipiri police and Task Force in Mangalam area near the forest here on Wednesday, 15 smugglers including 13 from Tamil Nadu and 2 from local area were arrested and 13 redsander logs were seized.
​Tirupati: In a joint operation by Alipiri police and Task Force in Mangalam area near the forest here on Wednesday, 15 smugglers including 13 from Tamil Nadu and 2 from local area were arrested and 13 redsander logs were seized.
Disclosing the details of the smugglers nabbed during operation here on Thursday, Task Force DSP K Ravikumar and East Sub-divisional police officer KV Murali Krishna said that acting on a tip off the forces took up the joint operation in Sechachalam forest area near Reddy Bhavan in Mangalam at the city outskirts.
15 smugglers were found coming out of the forest carrying redsanders on their head. When the Task Force and Alipiri police tried to nab them, they met with stiff resistance from the smugglers who attacked police with axes and saws they were carrying. But the police managed to repulse the attack and nabbed 15 while two of them fled.
The arrested were produced before the media on Thursday identified as U Akhil (21) and G Uday (23), residents of Managalam near RTO office, Tirupati. They were acting as pilots to the main smugglers from Tamil Nadu and also providing logistics.
Ravikumar further added that some locals were found lending their support to smugglers from TN, lured by money.
Investigations revealed that the smugglers paid hefty sum to locals for arranging autos which is Rs 500 to 1000 per auto for ferrying smugglers.
