The Red Sanders Task Force, along with personnel of Puttur, Vijayapuram and Kallur police stations, on Tuesday night arrested fourteen red sanders smugglers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and seized more than four tonnes of logs worth over Rs. 2 crore. Three SUVs, two trucks and Rs. 2.5 lakh were also recovered from them.
Speaking to reporters at the Police Guest House here on Wednesday, Chittoor Superintendent of Police Ghattamaneni Srinivas said the arrested included two notorious smugglers, K. Mani (50) from Namakkal district and S. Ramakrishna (35) from Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. The gang had smuggled out hundreds of tonnes of logs in the last one decade, and they carry criminal cases against them, he added.
The others who were arrested include Munna, Thanga Raj, Vinod Kumar, R. Balasubramanyam, Sounderrajan, Murugesan and Somu from Tamil Nadu and P. Umar, Nazar, Mohandas, Babu and P.P. Nagar from Kerala.
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A few days ago, the task force had found out that smugglers were operating between Chennai and some ports in Kerala.
The SP said special teams were keeping vigil on highways round-the-clock, and that all check posts at border towns were kept under strict surveillance.
He added that in view of the volatile situation after the encounter of 20 wood cutters in the Seshachalam forest, the task force personnel and patrolling parties had stepped up their operations. DSP (Special Branch) Ramkumar was also present.
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Logs worth over Rs. 2 crore, three SUVs, two trucks and Rs 2.5 lakh seized from them