The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel, in two different raids conducted in the Seshachalam forests on Thursday, arrested six persons for smuggling red sanders logs. They seized 22 red sanders logs worth about ₹1 crore, besides a car and a bike.
According to the RSASTF officials, two combing parties were deployed at the Sanipaya range and Rayavaram section on Wednesday night, acting on a tip-off that the smugglers had entered the forests. In the early hours of Thursday, the RSASTF personnel launched the raids at both places.
In both incidents, several smugglers escaped under the cover of darkness. However, the task force succeeded in nabbing six persons—five from Jamnamaratur of Tiruvannamalai district and one from Chittoor district—and seized the logs from them.
The task force officials said that more teams would be deployed for combing operations to flush out the smugglers from the Seshachalam forests.
The accused were booked at the RSASTF police station in Tirupati and were remanded.
