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Smuggler killed in clash with cops

Around 60 men indiscriminately attacked the combing team with stones, knives and axes.

Chittoor: A red sanders woodcutter was killed and three cops were injured in a clash between a gang of smugglers and a special combing party in the Seshachalam hills on Wednesday.

According to Chittoor SP P.H.D. Ramakrishna, the special combing party had spotted a large team of red sanders smugglers and woodcutters felling the red sanders trees inside the Seshachalam forests near Bommaji Konda under the Chamala-Bhakrapet ranges on Wednesday.

As the officials tried to take the gang into custody, the smugglers and woodcutters, who had initially agreed to surrender, suddenly started pelting stones on them.

Sources said that around 60 men indiscriminately attacked the combing team with stones, knives and axes.

RSI Murali and two constables were seriously injured in the attack and the cops were forced to retaliate.

They opened fire in self-defence and one member of the gang was killed in the process.

The cops could take only one smuggler into custody while the rest fled. The injured were rushed to a local government hospital in Tirupati for treatment.

Meanwhile, Chittoor police has roped in additional men to flush out the remaining smugglers and woodcutters from the hills.

The clash between the smugglers and the security agencies was the first after the Police-Forest task force stepped up the offensive against red sanders smuggling after the brutal ambush on a team of Forest department officials in the Seshachalam ranges on December 15.

Despite the efforts, smugglers and woodcutters were gaining entry through a few soft points still kept open, sources said.

( Source : dc )
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