Organised Crime Cell to start functioning in February

Tirupati: An Organised Crime Cell will be set up to strengthen the police to combat redsander smuggling more vigorously.

The cell will start functioning in February, said DGP N Sambasiva Rao.

Addressing the media corps after a high level meeting with forest and police officials of Chittoor, Tirupati Urban and Kadapa districts along with RSASTF here on Thursday, DGP said that the OCC will work mainly on intelligence gathering vital information for preventive action, studying the ground level factors abetting smuggling and to suggest remedial measures.

In this connection the DGP made it clear that lending support by anyone and from any quarter including the insiders (police and forest department) will not be tolerated and they have been treated as equivalent to smugglers and sternly dealt with action as per law.

He claimed that the menace of redsander smuggling has been coming down since two and half years particularly after setting up Redsander Antismuggling Task Force (RSASTF) and has now 70-80 per cent curtailed.

Police dealing with the redsander smugglers in multidimensional actions including making special efforts to change the mindset of the coolies and wood cutters from Tamil Nadu.

It is they who are pivotal in the illegal activity of smuggling of redsanders as they venture into forests, cutting tree and carry them to the dumps inside to transfer outside the forest to facilitate the smugglers amd smuggle the sandalwoods to the other States.

DGP said that it was rather imperative on the part of both Tamil Nadu and AP government to take up the responsibility of providing alternate sustainable livelihood for these workers belonging to weaker sections to keep them away from illegal smuggling.

Rao said that the police also deploying latest technology jointly like drone cameras apart from CC cameras to step up surveillance on the forest and also at all entry points leading into the thick jungles where redsander trees grow more.

Base camps with armed personnel were set up in dense forest to intensify combing in the forests and check entry of smuggles into forests.