A head constable, an assistant forest beat officer and four protection watchers are among 11 persons arrested for red sanders smuggling in raids conducted at three places in Kadapa district on Sunday.
Twenty-nine red sanders logs weighing 1.30 tonnes, 17 mobile phones and a luggage van were seized from the arrested persons, Kadapa Superintendent of Police P.H.D. Ramakrishna said in Kadapa.
A police head constable of Veerapunayunipalle Police Station Yeddula Alfred, 43, residing in Prakashnagar in Kadapa town, an assistant forest beat officer of Maddimadugu East beat, Sorakayala Venkata Subbarayudu, 33, and four protection watchers of Maddimadugu base camp in Kadapa forest range — Kokku Balagopal, 21, Chakali Ganga Mahesh, 26, Muthukur Siva Brahmam, 22 and Tellala Gangaraju, 22, — were arrested, the SP said.
Five inter-State smugglers — Chamarthi Amarendra Raju, 34, of Peddur in Veeraballe mandal, Moode Mallikarjun Naik alias Chandu, 26, of Maddimadugu Sugali Bidiki, Gummalla Nityapoojaiah, 25, of Bandarupalle in Vontimitta mandal, Rebba Satish Kumar, 23, of Angadi Veedhi and Rapuri Sivasankar, 28, of Bhagatsinghnagar, both of Kadapa town, — were also arrested.
Mydukur Rural Circle Inspector M. Nagabhushanam and staff intercepted a luggage van and arrested Yeddula Alfred, Chakali Ganga Mahesh and Gummalla Nityapoojaiah and inter-State smuggler Amarendra Raju and seized 10 red sanders logs and eight mobile phones, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
Pendlimarry Sub-Inspector and staff arrested forest protection watchers Siva Brahmam and Gangaraju and inter-State smuggler Mallikarjuna Naik in a raid and seized nine red sanders logs kept ready for transportation in Polathala reserve forest in Pendlimarry mandal and four mobile phones from them.
On a tip-off, Chintakommadinne Sub-Inspector and staff arrested assistant forest beat officer Venkata Subbarayudu, forest protection watcher Balagopal, Rebba Satish Kumar and Rapuri Sivasankar in the forest area near Maddimadugu Yanadi Colony in Chintakommadinne mandal and seized 10 red sanders logs kept ready for transportation and five mobile phones, the SP said. Yeddula Alfred had earlier worked in the Anti-Red Sanders Task Force at Tirupati and was transferred to Kadapa.
Meanwhile, 36 red sanders logs were seized by the Forest Department officials near Rallakalava forest area under Krishnapuram in the Chittoor district in the early hours of Sunday. According to Divisional Forest Officer (Tirupati, Wildlife) T.V. Subba Reddy, the seizure was made by the officials of Sri Venkateswara National Park (SVNP)’s Tirupati Range.
