Tirupati, Kadapa police seize huge cache of red sanders

TIRUPATI/KADAPA

The Tirupati and Kadapa district police seized huge quantity of red sanders logs worth over ₹2 crore in separate operations on Wednesday.

In a major breakthrough, 44 woodcutters were nabbed in an operation by the Tirupati Urban police. Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a vehicular check on Tirupati-Chennai national highway when a car followed by two trucks sped past them. After a hot chase for 21 km, the vehicles were intercepted by a team led by Additional Superintendent K. Kulasekhar and Deputy Superintendent (Puttur) Rama Raju.

Eighty-one logs weighing 2.6 tonnes, 11 axes and 32 hacksaws were seized and the accused were arrested. Superintendent of Police P. Parameswara Reddy, who produced the seized property worth ₹2 crore before the media, said they were on the lookout for two key smugglers.

In Kadapa, the police swooped down on smugglers in Lankamalla forest under B. Matham police limits and recovered five logs weighing 110 kg, besides arresting three inter-state criminals. The arrested were identified as Sivan, Kanaka Raju, both of Athur (Salem district), Kariyan Kamaraj of Vellimalai (Kallakurichi district) of Tamil Nadu.