The Chittoor Task Force police on Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday arrested 12 red sanders smugglers, including two notorious inter-State operators, at six different locations in the district.
Chittoor Superintendent of Police Mr. Ghattamaneni Srinivas produced the accused here on Monday. They belonged to four different gangs from Tamil Nadu. The SP said red sanders logs of A-Grade variety worth more than Rs. 55 lakh and four SUVs and two two-wheelers were seized from the accused. The highlight is that for the first time, acid bottles, concrete stones and bamboo sticks were also seized from the accused, who confessed that they had kept the material with the intention of attacking police raid parties in case of interception of their vehicles.K.N. Mohan of Tiruttani of Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, along with his two accomplices - Natarajan Ilango of Tiruttani and Dayalan Raja of Tiruttani - were arrested under the Karvetinagaram police limits on Sunday night. Mohan is said to have smuggled out more than 100 tonnes of logs since 2012. The Vedrukuppam police nabbed Vallikutti Gopalan of Tiruvannamalai. The SR Puram police arrested Govinda Venkatesh of Vellore in TN and Ganapathi Murugadoss of Vellore.
The Gudipala police apprehended Giribabu alias Military Giri of GD Nellore mandal of Chittoor district while he was trying to cross into Tamil Nadu.
The Chittoor police arrested Mohammad Amjad of Vellore; Armugam of Hosur; and Saikumar of Ganganapalle of Chitoor town. The Irala police arrested M. Rangaiah and Harikrishna of Chittoor district.
Meanwhile, police have intensified operations to nab notorious gang leaders Madhesh, Thyagaraj and Ramesh of Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Srinivas said a proposal would be sent to the government for constituting special courts in Chittoor district to deal with red sanders cases, which had crossed over 500.
For the first time, acid bottles, stones and bamboo sticks confiscated
