PNS|Tirupati
The police seized 51 red sanders logs of A-grade quality weighing 1,588 kg worth over Rs 2 crore and arrested 48 smugglers at three different places.
Task Force DSP Ch Babu told the media on Monday that police teams led by Inspector of Police Suresh Kumar Reddy, SIs Lingadhar, Viswanath, Vinodh Kumar Reddy, and Raghavendra conducted raids on the forest areas.
One of the teams arrested K Kumar at Lakshmipuram village in Tirupati district and seized 9 red sander logs when he was loading them in a car. The police seized the logs and the car. Another team conducted a combing at the Sundupalli forest area and spotted some red sander smugglers carrying red sander logs. The police arrested 19 red sander smugglers and seized 21 red sander logs, five motorcycles, and a car. The third team conducted a raid at the Siddaleru base camp in the Arimanubanda area in the Annamayya district in the Bapalli forest range. The police spotted red sander smugglers and seized 21 logs. The police arrested 28 red sanders smugglers, and seized 21 logs, one motorcycle, and an auto-rickshaw from them.
In the three cases, the police seized a total of 51 red sanders logs, weighing 1588 KGs worth Rs over Rs 2 crore. The arrested red sander smugglers were being produced in the court, the DSP said. DIG Senthil Kumar announced rewards to the police personnel for arresting the smugglers and seizing the logs.
