TIRUPATI: In a major breakthrough, sleuths of the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) seized 158 logs in the deep forest near Balayapalli on Thursday. According to Task Force IG M Kantha Rao, the team was on a routine check and found a huge assembly of red sanders logs in the forest.
The nine-member task force team opened fire in the air and this created panic among the 80-odd red sanders smugglers at the place, who ran amok. Many bags, food material, clothes, photos, books and other items were also abandoned at the place by fleeing smugglers.
A notebook containing the list of smugglers who participated in the illegal activity was also found. It contains all the names of smugglers and weight of the logs which they carried and other details. Photos of smugglers with the politicians of Tamil Nadu during weddings and other functions were also found.
In all, 158 red sanders logs were seized the raid. All the logs were gathered at the place for transportation. The notebook containing the list of smugglers is likely to be useful for the task force in curbing the illegal activity in Seshachalam forest.