The Chittoor police seized red sanders logs with an estimated market value of more than ₹ 1 crore and arrested 15 persons on charge of smuggling in two separate incidents on the outskirts of Chittoor municipal corporation in the early hours of Thursday.
According to police, the accused used an ambulance vehicle for transporting the precious logs to Tamil Nadu.
Addressing the media, Superintendent of Police Y. Rishant Reddy and Deputy SP (Law and Oder) N. Sudhakar Reddy said that a special party was conducting vehicle checks at the Mapakshi Cross on the Chittoor-Vellore highway on Wednesday night.
“The police intercepted an ambulance vehicle that tried to cross the checking point in high speed. Four operatives fled the spot, while eleven persons including eight woodcutters, two middle men, and driver of the vehicle, were arrested. Chittoor Rural East police have registered a case,” the SP told the media.
The police seized the ambulance vehicle worth ₹15 lakh. Red sanders logs worth more than ₹50 lakh, and tools used for felling trees were also seized.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were carrying the load from the Seshachalam foothills towards Chennai. In 2016, an ambulance carrying red sanders logs was seized in Chittoor district.
Meanwhile, the Chittoor Rural West police took two youths into custody when they were moving suspiciously on a motorbike on the outskirts of Chittoor-Bengaluru national highway on Thursday morning.
Acting on the inputs shared by the youth, the police intercepted a mini-truck that was on its way to Bengaluru and seized red sanders logs worth ₹50 lakh. Two people on board were arrested.
Of the total 15 persons arrested in the two incidents, 13 are from Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu, while two are natives of Kuppam Assembly constituency. Ten of the accused are in the age group of 22 years to 27 years, while others are in their mid-30s.
