NELLORE: Thanks to the ensuing elections in Tamil Nadu, the task force teams and police operation against the red sanders smugglers in Chittoor district have got a breather, long enough to even take occasional naps.
For, the election code and checkposts to curb flow of money in Tamil Nadu seem to have hampered the smuggling operations.
In the recent past, not a single day passed without the task force or police teams seizing red sanders and arresting woodcutters in one place or another in Chittoor district.
However, in the last five days there has been a lull on this front in the district. Police authorities believe that the woodcutters are now being hired by political parties for election campaign, thus leading to an apparent freeze in the smuggling activities here.
“Parties need man power to canvass and they are suitably fed with food, liquor and cash,” a police officer in the district said.
Moreover, every vehicle entering Tamil Nadu is being checked not only at the state boarders but also at the entry points of every assembly segment in view of the May 16 elections and this may be one of the reasons for sudden drop in smuggling incidents, the officers believe.
“The next option to the smugglers is to move the logs to Katiganahalli village in Karnataka, a hub for red sander smuggling. But Chittoor police apprehended all top operators and recovered large volumes of red sander logs during successive raids in the recent weeks. With this, the smugglers have no way to transport, police said.
Moreover, with the summer getting hotter, it has resulted in restriction of smugglers’ movement in the forest. Drying up of water points in the forest and task force teams guarding the entry and exit points also discourage the smugglers from venturing into Seshachalam forest” a senior police officer observed.
