Officials of the Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) in Tirupati arrested 31 woodcutters at Santhanuthalapadu in Prakasam district and seized 15 logs from their possession on Sunday.
A team led by RSIs Vinod Kumar and Viswanath checked vehicles at Santhanuthalapadu on Ongole - Chimakurthy road when they intercepted a truck and an SUV carrying red sanders logs. “While some of them fled, our men rounded up 31 woodcutters from the spot and seized the logs, along with 20 axes and 20 mobile phones,” said Superintendent of Police (RSASTF) K. Chakravarthy at a media conference here on Monday.
The arrested included G. Ramanatha Reddy (37), a wanted man in 60 cases with four non-bailable warrants against him, hailing from Vinjamur in the Nellore district. Another main accused was identified as Raji Kuppuswamy (46), hailing from the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, who was accused of arranging manpower for such smuggling operations.
The logs seized were estimated to be worth ₹25 lakh, while the seized vehicles were valued at ₹20 lakh. Deputy Superintendents Chenchu Babu and Muralidhar and RI Suresh Reddy took part in the raid.
