The Chittoor police on Tuesday nabbed seven members of an inter-State gang involved in red sanders logs smuggling operations and recovered logs weighing 2.7 tonnes from them on the outskirts of the Chittoor-Bengaluru national highway.
Superintendent of Police Y. Rishant Reddy and Deputy SP (Law and Order) N. Sudhakar Reddy produced the accused, all from Tamil Nadu, and the seized logs, worth ₹3 crore in the international market, and three vehicles at a press conference here. Three others, who belong to Chittoor district, are absconding, and a special party is formed to track them down, the SP said.
The SP said that acting on reliable information about the movement of smuggling operatives towards Bengaluru, a special party led by Deputy SP Sudhakar Reddy swung into action and intercepted a suspiciously-moving car on the NH.
The car, carrying some red sanders logs, was seized and two persons were taken into custody. Based on information given by the duo, the police intercepted an SUV and a mini truck a few minutes later at the MCR cross following which five others were nabbed and more logs were seized.
Among the seven accused is Govindaswamy Setu (44), the leader of the gang that works on the modus operandi of procuring the logs from the Seshachalam forests of Tirupati and Annamayya districts, and arranging the transport to Chennai and Bengaluru.
Four others were found to be repeat offenders, having cases filed against them for red sanders smuggling in various police stations.
All the seven hailed from Tirupattur and Kallakurchi districts of Tamil Nadu, the SP said. The seven accused were produced before the district court, which remanded at sub-jail here.
