Tirupati: For the first time in the war against red sanders smuggling, three smugglers were killed by police in the Seshachalam forests on Thursday. Five cops from the combing party were also injured in the encounter.
According to Tirupati SP S.V. Rajasekhar Babu, special combing parties had been undertaking extensive operations to flush out red sanders smugglers and woodcutters from the Seshachalam ranges over the last fortnight.
On Thursday, one of the combing parties — comprising about 60 men — spotted around 100 smugglers and woodcutters felling trees near the Guddeda Banda, 8 km from “Srivari Padalu”.
This was the same spot where the cops had fired two rounds during a similar face-off a couple of days ago. This time the red sanders smugglers, who saw the special combing party approaching them, attacked the cops by pelting stones at them. A few also attacked with poisoned arrows, axes and other deadly weapons.
The SP said that though the members of the special combing party tried their best to gain control of the situation without opening fire, they were forced to retaliate when five of them were seriously injured by the smugglers.
The team opened fire on the smugglers in an act of self-defence and killed three persons on the spot, while the remaining smugglers and woodcutters managed to flee deeper into the woods.
SP Rajasekhar Babu and other senior officials of the police department reached the encounter spot with additional forces. The SP immediately instructed to shift the injured policemen to the SVRR government hospital. The tents erected by the smugglers inside the forests were dismantled and the cooking utensils and weapons left behind by them were seized by the police.
The SP said the police, in coordination with the forest department as well as Special Task Force, had vowed to clean up the Seshachalam forest.
The identities of the three smugglers killed in the encounter on Thursday are not known yet.
