The Nellore police arrested nine persons, including a smuggler, and seized red sanders logs worth Rs. 1.40 crore in a raid conducted in the Velugonda forest in Rapur area in Nellore district here on Wednesday.
Sangati Subbaiah, who is wanted in three smuggling cases and had been at large for the past one year in three smuggling cases, was caught when police intercepted a gang that was trying to transport contraband wood out of the district.
Nellore superintendent of police Gajarao Bhupal said that though felling of red sanders had ceased in Velugonda forest in the past one year, logs continued to be stored in hidden dumps and smuggled out of the district periodically.
In another seizure, Chittoor police and forest officials stopped vehicles transporting red sanders logs worth over Rs. 1 crore in two separate incidents in Gangadhara Nellore constituency. The Chittoor East police, acting on a tip-off, intercepted an SUV at Kothapallimitta in SR Puram mandal and found the contraband logs in it worth about Rs. 1 lakh.
