ANDHRA PRADESH: Red sanders smuggling, since the beginning of New Year, continued unabated in the Seshachalam forests and areas surrounding the temple city, while combing parties seized logs on a big scale in three incidents here on Monday.
In the first incident near A. Rangampet village of Chandragiri mandal, the combing party seized 12 red sanders logs from the boot of a car and nababed a Tirupati-based person who involved in smuggling activities. The officials, en route to their respective combing routes, noticed a four-wheeler moving onto the main road from dirt tracks of the forest near Saddhikudubanda area of Tekumakulavanam. This fuelled their suspicion and managed to intercept the car after a brief chase.
Two operatives managed to escape, while one person was nabbed by the combing party. The cost of logs is estimated at Rs.60 lakh.
Later, another group of officials seized 35 logs in the forests abutting S.V. Nagar area (near S.V. Zoological Park) and continued the combing as smuggling operatives managed to escape into deep forests, after confrontation with the officials. Additional force was mobilised to nab the culprits and logs were transported back to the forest department godowns. The cost of seized red sanders logs is pegged at Rs.1.2 crore.
