‘Smugglers not leaving even roots of red sanders’

• No scope for trees to grow again after rains
• RSASTF personnel recover 8 red sanders logs in Chandragiri mandal

Tirupati: The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel recovered 8 red sanders logs that were left behind by smugglers while escaping from the combing party in the forest area of Nagapatla East range in Chandragiri mandal, in the early hours on Saturday.

A RSASTF combing party divided into two batches started combing the forest area of Sachinodibanda and Cheekatigalakona area on Friday night.

The RSASTF personnel found the foot prints and followed it up to Nagapatla East range where they found the smugglers movement. However, the alert smugglers scenting task force personnel following them fled away, leaving behind 8 reds sanders logs which were later recovered.

Task force senior personnel including ACF Krishnaiah, FRO Prasad and SI Somasekhar reached the forest area along with additional force to track down the smugglers. Dog squad also pressed into service to find out the smugglers.

Krishnaiah lauded the combing party including RSIs Bhaskar, Linga Adarsh and FRO Venkatasubba Reddy. The RSASTF officials said the smugglers were not leaving even the roots of red sanders trees.

Hitherto, the smugglers fell the tree trunk leaving the roots sprouting again after sometime. The officials expressed concern over the smugglers cutting off even the roots giving no scope for the trees to grow again after rains.