The Red Sanders Task Force on Saturday seized 62 logs worth over ₹2 crore from three locations in Kadapa and Annamayya districts and arrested five individuals from Kadapa and Nellore districts.
According to the task force, a special patrol party spotted and surrounded a group of smugglers carrying the logs in the Siddavatam section of Kadapa district on Saturday early morning. Though many fled under cover of darkness, the personnel apprehended five, including a 70-year-old man, and seized 26 logs.
In another incident, the personnel seized 28 logs from a forest area under the Pullampeta beat of Annamayya district, but the smugglers escaped. At Tamballapalle in the district, the task force seized eight logs from the compound of a house; the house owner fled. The officers registered a case and said the accused would be produced before a court. The task force has deployed additional forces to flush smugglers out of the Seshachalam hills.
