An additional force of 66 members from various wings of the A.P. Police Department was added to the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force at Tirupati on Tuesday.
The additional force, comprising personnel from the armed reserve, special and civil police arenas, was need of the hour to counter the smuggling network, Superintendent of Police (Task Force), Meda Sundara Rao said.
Addressing the new joinees at Kapilatheertham complex at Tirupati, Mr. Sundara Rao said that the protection of the red sanders trees in Seshachalam Hills should be considered a sacred duty.
The Task Force SP said the additional force would be deputed in combing operations in Kadapa and Railway Kodur ranges. “The focus should be on preventing the felling of trees in the first place,” Mr. Sundara Rao said.
The officer later distributed kits containing gloves, sanitisers, facemasks, blood pressure and sugar-checking gadgets along with vitamin supplements to the personnel.
23 logs seized, 1 held
Meanwhile, a special party of the Task Force nabbed a red sanders smuggling operative at Karakambadi beat on the eastern side of the Seshachalam Hills near Tirupati in the early hours of Tuesday, and seized 23 logs from him.
The accused was identified as Lakshmanan (51), hailing from Vellore district in Tamil Nadu. The logs, estimated to be worth about ₹50 lakh in the international market, were shifted to the Task Force office at Kapilatheertham.
In another incident, 23 red sanders smuggling operatives were held in Piler while they were exiting from the forest.
