Spurt in red sanders smuggling in Tirupati

Tirupati: After a lull, there is a spurt in red sanders smuggling which was evident with the Red Sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) detecting three cases of red sanders smuggling within a week and arresting five involved in the smuggling.

On September 5, Task Force team led by RI Satyanarayana was keeping a watch in Kodur forest area leading to the arrest of two including a mason T Venkatesh and a financier Sheik Jabbar, after a hot chase.

In the multi-billion illegal smuggling of red sanders both the mason and financier occupy key position as it was the mason, who get the wood cutters from the hill areas of Tamil Nadu to venture into the forest to cut the wood and bring it outside the forest after dressing the cut trees while the financier provides the required amount for engaging the wood cutters and also for transporting the logs to reach the godowns being secretly maintained by the smugglers for stocking the valuable red sanders till they were shipped abroad at an appropriate time, said Task Force in-charge Ravisankar.

On September 8, the RSASTF was able to arrest a smuggler Dorai Raj from Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu and recovered 20 red sanders logs including 12 in the reserve forest and 8 more hidden in bushes in TTD forest area near Perumallapalli.

Within two days on September 10, the task force personnel during a combing operation in Mamandur forest range arrested V Raghu alias Mohan (28) of Dodlamitta and Siva of Kukkaladoddi, both villages on the forest fringe and recovered ten logs from the forest area.

The arrest of the two revealed that locals, who are keeping away from smuggling activities for some time, started involving in the illegal activity adding a new dimension to the smuggling of red sanders which was drastically brought down by the task force.

Ravisankar further said that recent rains since July in Tirumala Hills saw the water sources like ponds filled up providing the much needed water to the smugglers, who have to stay in the forests for many days a week or two to identify and cut the wood and carry them outside the forest.

Besides, the rains also helped the dried forests rejuvenated improving greenery providing the much-needed cover to the smugglers was the main reason emboldening the smugglers, he said, affirming that the task force fully prepared to foil the attempts of the smugglers.