Chittoor police seize Rs 4 crore worth red sanders

Chittoor: Police and Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force seized 168 red sanders worth Rs 4 crore and arrested eight persons during the joint vehicle checking operation on Monday. Three vehicles worth Rs 60 lakh were seized in the operation.

District SP Senthil Kumar told the media here on Monday that the Puttur police chased a lorry at Taduku check-post that was going towards Chennai from Tirupati in the wee hours of Monday. After intercepting the vehicle, they nabbed smugglers R Balamurugan, T Gangaiah, Sudhakar, Naveen, Rajesh and Dorairaj and seized 103 logs along with two vehicles.

In an another incident in Chittoor Taluk police station limits, police nabbed two red sanders smugglers identified as M Aravind Reddy, and N Chandrababu and seized 65 red sanders logs along with one vehicle at Murakambattu check post on Tirupati-Bengaluru highway.

The SP said in view of the increased smuggling of the precious wood, mainly from Seshachalam forests, all SPs in the state were put on alert and a joint action plan had been chalked out to deal with the menace at grassroot levels with the active participation of Special Enforcement Bureau.

Senthil Kumar said CC cameras were set up at all 103 check-posts in the district with special focus on interstate movements of red sanders smugglers through the district boundaries.

A coordination committee has been constituted with the police forces of Chittoor, Tirupati, Kadapa and Nellore for combating the unabated red sanders smuggling from Seshachalam forest division. SEB ASP Risanth Reddy, Chittoor DSP N Sudhakar Reddy, Puttur DSP Yeswanth and others were present.