Special police teams led by Chittoor SP G. Srinivas and Additional SP (Red Sanders Operation) Y. Ratna on Wednesday evening apprehended two youths — Irfan Khan and Syed Mubarak, both aged 22, of Katiganahalli of Bengaluru rural district — leading to an operation on a clandestinely-run godown at Giddappanahalli, 30 km from Katiganahalli, and seizure of six tonnes of red sanders logs worth over Rs. 10 crore in the international market.
The youths were arrested at Katiganahalli bus stop.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Ratna said that Fasi alias Fasiuddin of Katiganahalli eas the owner of the dump, operating inter-State red sanders smuggling activity. “Fasi’s gang included over 20 members. At present, we could nab two and the remaining arrests will follow. We have pressed special teams into service to nab Fasi, who gave us the slip during the search of the godown,” she said, adding that Katiganahalli had become a den for red sanders smugglers in the recent years.
Specially fabricated tanker, logs seized
In another case, the Tirupati wildlife staff seized a specially fabricated LPG tanker carrying two tonnes of red sanders logs at a forest location close to Settigunta Railway Station in Kadapa district in the early hours of Wednesday. A dozen forest beat officials on night patrol noticed a red light beaming in the forest location, a km away from the main road.
On reaching the spot, a group of over 50 persons, woodcutters and smugglers, started pelting stones at the forest personnel, who in turn opened one round of fire to quell the mob. The accused fled into the thickets. In all, 50 logs of high-grade quality were detected inside the tanker.
Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) chief and DIG M. Kantha Rao told the media that for the first time the smugglers were found to be using “On Government Duty” display on the tanker in which documents pertaining to Maharashtra, but with TN registration plate, were found.
“According to our preliminary study, the smugglers and woodcutters seemed to have felled the red sanders trees at Kangimadugu in Seshachalam hill range. The logs were fresh from the jungle,” the DIG said, adding that a rough estimate had put that as many as 40 lakh red sanders trees were cut in the Seshachalam hills during the last two-and-half decades, leaving approximately 80 lakh trees at present.
DFO (Tirupati wildlife) P.V. Subba Reddysaid that the gas tanker was designed in such a way that it would be difficult to detect the clandestine activity unless thoroughly scrutinised.
