9 smugglers held, sanders logs worth 75 lakh seized

Nellore: Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force team along with local police arrested 9 smugglers and seized sanders logs worth Rs 75 lakh from their possession.

Addressing media persons here on Friday, Officer on Special Duty(OSD) Crimes T P Vithaleswar said the task force team along with Chillakur, Naidupeta and Venkatachalam police conducted raids in their respective areas and held 9 smugglers. The team also seized 3 vehicles, 11 mobile phones and Rs 5,250 cash from them.

They also seized 40 red sanders logs worth Rs 75 lakh from the smugglers, said the OSD. He said three smugglers from Karnataka, two smugglers from Kadapa district, two from Kurnool, one from Prakasam district and also one smuggler from Rapur in Nellore district were held.

"The smugglers have been exporting red sanders logs from Veligonda forest area to Bengaluru and further exporting them to other countries. In the raid, the smugglers also tried to attack police," said the OSD. Police have been investigating the links between the local and other national smugglers, he added. The OSD explained that they had formed 3 teams to nab other smugglers who are at large.

He said they had filed 20 cases and held 108 smugglers during this year. The task force team and police had seized 8 tonnes weighing 469 red sander logs worth Rs 8.50 crore from the smugglers, he added. Gudur DSP V S Rambabu, Gudur Rural Circle Inspector P Akkeswar Rao and others were present.