Red sanders logs seized
Truck smuggling sanders overturns after accident
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-13 02:31 GMT
Hyderabad: A truck smuggling red sanders met with an accident on ORR at Shamsabad and overturned spilling the logs on to the road early on Wednesday. The red sanders logs were hidden under glass slabs.
The forest officials, who seized the truck, suspect that the red sanders weighing around a tonne must have been loaded at Chennai or Nellore and was heading to HP via Mumbai. The truck overturned when another truck rammed it from behind at Hamidullahnagar. The driver fled as the red sanders fell on the road.
Police said the mishap overturned at around 4 am. “A truck carrying paper hit this lorry from behind. Both trucks overturned and a driver was injured. However, the driver of the red sanders truck fled before we could reach there. We found red sanders and informed forest officials,” said inspector K. Uma Maheswar Rao.
Forest officials said the truck was carrying glass slabs from Saint Gobain India and it was loaded at Chennai. “The truck came via Nellore, Vijayawada, Nalgonda and was heading towards Maharashtra.
The smugglers kept the logs under the glass slabs and concealed them with tarpaulin. We do not know where they loaded it. However, it's possible that they did it at Chennai or Nellore,” said M. Naga Bhushanam, a senior official of the forest department.
Officials said the truck with the registration number AP21 Y 2777, was registered in AP. However, the owner told forest officials that he did not know that the truck was carrying red sanders.
“We contacted the transportation company and the glass manufacturing company. The search for the driver is on,” said an official from the forest department. Both the police and the forest department have booked cases over the incident.