TIRUPATI: Tirupati district police have seized 33 red sanders logs worth ₹2 crores after apprehending nine interstate smugglers near the Yellamanda Cross in Yerravaripalem mandal. Bakarapeta Circle inspector Tulasi Ram led the operation against the smugglers on Friday evening.
Disclosing details on Saturday, district superintendent of police P. Parameswara Reddy said based on information received by Chandragiri sub-division DSP T.D. Yaswanth, police raided a specific location near Yellamanda Cross on Yellamanda-Ustikayalapenta Road at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Sensing the police raid, smugglers made a desperate attempt to escape. However, the team of cops managed to apprehend all nine smugglers involved in the incident.
The accused have been identified as M. Madurai (59), C. Govinda Swamy (49), A. Jai Ganesh (40), and C. Annamalai (35) all from Tamil Nadu, M. Ramesh (45) from Karnataka, and M.S. Sharfuddin (30), M. Sabeek (45), K.T. Sreeraj (36) and S. Babu (36), all from Kerala.
Police confiscated three Toyota Innova SUVs, a Hyundai car, a Bolero pick-up and a motorcycle. Upon inspecting the vehicles, police found 33 concealed red sanders logs.
SP Parameswara Reddy said: "All the arrested have previous criminal records. They were illegally transporting red sander logs from Seshachala forest area to Vellore. The arrested belong to two separate gangs. They joined forces to smuggle the contraband to Tamil Nadu.”
Parameswara Reddy stated that they will invoke Preventive Detention (PD) Act against the accused for attempting to smuggle valuable forest produce.
