30 red sanders logs worth `80 lakh seized; 5 held

Tirupati: The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel have arrested five red sanders smugglers in three separate cases and seized red sanders logs worth Rs 80 lakh from them.

The task force men have caught Gouse Basha of Rangampet and Siva of Narasingapuram in Ragmakula Kunta forest area beat and seized 10 red sanders logs from them.

The accused were intending to sell to Muzeeb of Katikanahalli near Bengaluru in Karnataka. In the second incident, three red sanders smugglers belonging to Salem district were arrested and recovered 17 red sanders logs from them.

One the arrested is a juvenile. In the third case, task force personnel have unearthed 10 red sanders logs which were hidden in sand near Sachinodi Banda area of Nagapatla west beat.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, RSASTF DSP Sridhar Rao said that his men were keeping constant vigil at Srivarimettu area of Chamala range, where the smuggling movement is still prevalent.

He stated that the RSASTF personnel are using latest fingerprint technology with android mobiles to collect fingerprints from the accused. The technology would enable to detect whether the accused were involved in previous red sanders smuggling cases, the DSP said.