Nellore: Red sanders taskforce teams, along with local police nabbed 29 inter-state and inter-district smugglers during simultaneous raids in three places in Nellore district on Tuesday night.
The smugglers tried to attack the police but the latter managed to overpower them.
Police teams seized red sanders logs worth Rs 80 lakh and vehicles apart from 24 mobile phones, 14 axes and Rs 14,500 in cash.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police, Parameswar Reddy, 27 persons among the accused belong to Tamil Nadu and the other two belong to Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The arrested include wanted smugglers L. Chandra, Obul Raja and Suresh of Tamil Nadu.
The offenders have been smuggling red sanders logs from the Velugonda forest area to Chennai and thereafter to other countries.
Simultaneous raids were conducted under the limits of Rapur, Anantasagaram and Seetharamapuram police stations.
Mr Parameswar Reddy said they have registered 44 cases, arrested 517 persons and seized 1,312 logs weighing 1,312 tonnes during 2018.
This is in addition to 50 vehicles, 183 mobile phones, five guns, 20 axes and Rs 68,000 cash besides 800 grams of gold seized.
In India red sanders wood is lucrative for smugglers, as a high price is paid for this wood in China. Since the exporting of sandalwood is illegal in India, the underground market is growing.
