24 red sanders logs recovered; one held

Tirupati: The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) arrested a smuggler and recovered 24 red sanders logs during a combing operation in Srivarimettu forest area, late last night. The combing party led by RSI Vasu found the foot prints of smugglers near Anjaneya Swamy temple on Srivarimettu road indicating their movement in the area.

The combing party divided into two groups took up intense search leading to the arrest of a smuggler identified as Swaminathan of Koilandur village in Polur Taluka in Tamil Nadu while other smugglers managed to escape taking advantage of darkness. In the following searches, in the area resulted in the recovery of 24 logs which the fleeing smugglers left behind. A constable Hari sustained injury while chasing the smugglers.

It may be noted here that RSASTF combing party recovered 18 logs, just a day before on Saturday in the same forest area under Perumallapalli where despite the daily combing by RSASTF covering all the exit points in the forest area, the smugglers carrying on the smuggling activity taking advantage of the hostile terrain and numerous escape routes. RSASTF SP Ravisankar, DSP Venkataramana appreciated Vasu and his team for preventing the smuggling of 24 and arresting the smuggler.