Continuing the offensive against red sanders smuggling in Tirupati as well as in Tamil Nadu, the special team constituted by the Tirupati Urban Police department nabbed four persons and recovered 233 red sanders logs weighing two tonnes from two godowns in Chennai and at Ponneri in Tiruvallur district. The special team, which has been investigating previous cases, nabbed T. Napolean and M. Venkatesh on the Chennai-Tada national highway, on Monday. It seized the logs on interrogating the accused, who hail from Chennai and Tirupati respectively. Two others, Karthik and Gokul, were also arrested.
The operation was carried out by the special team and local authorities. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Tirupati West) Kanaka Raju produced the arrested before the media here on Tuesday.
On February 5, two persons, including Y. Jitendra of Jeevakona area of Tirupati, were arrested near Lakshmi Cheruvu in the Tirupati Rural mandal limits. Jitendra spilled the beans on how the logs were transported to Chennai and beyond the shores. Based on his information, the team nabbed R. Venkatachalam alias ‘Police’ Venkatachalam and S.B. Harinathan, with six others from Chennai on February 8.
Meanwhile, 13 logs were recovered by Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force officials near the Cheekateegalakona area, in the early hours of Tuesday. About 15 persons who were at the spot abandoned the logs and disappeared into the forests, but officials mobilised additional forces to nab them.
