13 held, Rs 50 lakh worth red sanders logs seized in Tirupati

TIRUPATI: The sleuths of Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) have nabbed 13 smugglers and seized 23 logs, worth Rs 50 lakh in the international market, at three different locations in Tirupati district on Thursday.

Acting on the direction of Task Force DIG S. Senthil Kumar and under the direct supervision of SP M. Sundara Rao, three teams have started combing parts of Seshachalam forests on Wednesday.

The first team was combing the forest at Nancharamma Cheruvu under Chamala East beat in the early hours of Thursday when they spotted a group of smugglers carrying red sanders logs out of the forest. When the team advanced to catch the smugglers, they fled from the spot leaving behind the logs. The team, however, nabbed a smuggler – Arun Kumar (38) of Tamil Nadu, and recovered nine logs here.

The second team seized 14 logs at Kangimadugu under Balapalli range while those carrying the logs gave a slip to the taskforce sleuths and fled deep into the forest. The third team, which was combing the Melchur forest area, under Vallam section in Srikalahasti mandal, arrested 12 smugglers when they were venturing into the forests to cut down the red sanders trees.

The arrested smugglers were identified as T. Sudarshan, Y. Prasad, A. Chenchaiah, K. Maraiah, T. Hari Krishna, P. Nagaraju, D. Gopi, T. Srinu, M. Siva, E. Venkatesh, K. Murugaiah and B. Srinivasulu, all hailing from various neighbouring mandals of Srikalahasti division.