It was a miraculous escape for the sleuths of the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) in the early hours of Saturday as a knife-wielding person, involved in illegal transportation of redsanders logs, tried to attack them. After a hot chase for over half an hour in true filmi style, the RSASTF personnel arrested two persons and recovered 82 logs from their possession.
The team, led by Sub-Inspector Ashok Kumar, started chasing a mini lorry near Yerpedu, with suspicion that it was ferrying the precious wood to Tamil Nadu. However, with the vehicle speeding away towards Chittoor after taking several detours to confuse the chasing police, the latter gave telephonic instructions to get barricades placed on the highway at Upparapalle near Mallamgunta old check post. With no option left, the vehicle gave in and slowed down ahead of the barricades, while the two in it fled the place. The police chased them and nabbed the duo. One of them flashed a knife out to scare away the police. He was immediately overpowered and arrested. The driver -- Shankar -- and the other person -- Sivaji -- hail from Irumbuli village in Kannamangalam taluk of Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu. This region is covered under Javvadu hills, the hotbed of tree felling activity. They reportedly entered the Seshachalam forest through Kakulamanu area along with 80 labourers a couple of days ago.
