Andhra Pradesh: 21 red sanders logs seized at Kalyani dam near Tirupati

‘Smuggling operatives abandoned logs and escaped into thickets on seeing task force personnel’

Red Sanders Task Force officials producing the seized logs at Kapilatheertham forest complex in Tirupati on Monday. | Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

A combing party of the Andhra Pradesh State Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (APSRSASTF) on Monday confiscated 21 red sanders logs in the Seshachalam forests near Kalyani dam of Chandragiri mandal, 20 km from Tirupati.

According to Deputy SP (Task Force) D. Murali Dhar, a special party was combing the forest in the Kalyani dam area when they spotted a batch of red sanders smuggling operatives carrying the logs and negotiating a hill slope at Thollagutta location. On seeing the task force, the operatives abandoned the logs and escaped into the thickets.

The task force personnel recovered more than half a tonne of logs, worth about ₹1 crore in the international market, from the bushes.

Combing operations to be intensified

Additional force was deployed to intensify the combing operations and to nab the elusive operatives. Superintendent of Police (Task Force) M. Sundar Rao was supervising the combing operations.