Chittoor: Seven smugglers held red sanders logs worth Rs 3.5 crore seized

Tirupati/Chittoor: The task force and Chittoor police arrested seven smugglers and seized red sanders logs worth Rs 3.5 crore. Addressing media persons at Task Force office here on Wednesday, Red Sander Anti Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) DIG (in-charge) Senthil Kumar said the combing team led by RI Suresh Kumar Reddy seized 80 red sander logs weighing about 2 tons and valued about Rs 1 crore on Vadamalapeta – Puttur Road on Tuesday night, after arresting six smugglers.

In another major haul, Chittoor police seized 100 red sanders logs (2.5 crore) and four vehicles (50 lakh) total worth Rs 3 crore and arrested Perumal, the most wanted red sanders smuggler on Wednesday.

Speaking to mediapersons, district SP Rishanth Reddy said that Chittoor East Circle Inspector P Balaiah, Sub-Inspector Ramakrishna and their force have conducted vehicle checking drive in Tirupati.

On noticing three cars and one truck going at a high speed from Tirupati to Vellore, the police have chased the vehicles and trapped Perumal, the resident of Tiruvannamalai and another person Velu on the spot and seized 100 red sanders logs besides four vehicles worth Rs 3 crore from them. Four red sanders smugglers fled away leaving their vehicles.

"Perumal is the most wanted red sanders smuggler, who was involved in various civil and criminal cases being registered in AP, Telangana and Tamil Nadu states," the SP said.

Perumal used ambulance vehicle as his mode of transport for carrying the red sanders logs from Seshachalam forest division, he stated. The SP further said that total 9 red sanders smugglers Thambi, Balaji, Ajit, Vinod, Sarat, Ramesh, Don, Kumar and Chinnappayan were absconding and Chittoor police have intensified the combing operation to nab the smugglers. ASP (Operations) K V Srinivasa Rao, Chittoor DSP N Sudhakar Reddy and other police officers were present.