India: In a joint operation with the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force personnel of Chittoor, the police on Friday seized red sanders logs worth Rs. 5 crore and arrested 25 persons at D. Hirehal village in the district.

Senior police officials, on condition of anonymity, told The Hindu that the task force police arrested two persons a couple of days ago. During investigation, the accused were learnt to have provided information about the illegal transport of the logs from Kamalapuram mandal of Kadapa district to Bengaluru via Anantapur district.

Based on the tip-off, the task force personnel and the local police followed the vehicles carrying the logs up to D. Hirehal mandal headquarters village, where they were stopped in the early hours of the day.

In all, three vehicles, one truck and two Tata Sumo, carrying the logs were stopped.

It is learnt that most of those caught are from Tamil Nadu and part of a larger gang operating out of the forest region between Kadapa and Chittoor districts.

Meanwhile, the different route taken by the smugglers jolted the police.

(Source: The Hindu)