84 Tamil Nadu woodcutters arrested in Seshachalam of Andhra Pradesh

The Red Sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) on Friday arrested 84 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu engaged in red sanders smuggling while they were en route to Seshachalam forest area.
The woodcutters who were caught hiding under a tarpaulin sheet in a truck at Tirupati on Friday | Express
The woodcutters who were caught hiding under a tarpaulin sheet in a truck at Tirupati on Friday | Express

TIRUPATI: The Red Sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) on Friday arrested 84 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu engaged in red sanders smuggling while they were en route to Seshachalam forest area.
Working on a tip-off that woodcutters from Arcot district in Tamil Nadu had left for Seshachalam forest in a truck, RSASTF sent four 4 teams to the area for a combing operation.

The woodcutters were spotted hiding in a truck covered with tarpaulin. When their fingerprints were taken and cross-checked with data available with RSASTF, it emerged that 13 of them were repeat offenders with cases pending against them.  Forty-eight axes, 10 saws, 3 knives and some ration bags were seized from them. “We formed separate teams and waited for the woodcutters. At 1:30 am, we found the truck carrying them under a tarpaulin at Anjaneyapuram.

It was first observed at Chandragiri by one of the four teams and subsequently, the other teams were alerted,” RSASTF SP Ravi Shankar explained. All 84 confessed to being woodcutters from Tamil Nadu engaged in red sanders smuggling during interrogation. Details about who hired them were not disclosed to media.

The officer said the team was tasked with felling a large number of red sanders trees in 10 days’ time. The accused are tribals from Javvadi Malai hills spread over Vellore and Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu and normally work as farm hands or construction workers. Woodcutters roped in by red sanders smugglers are usually illiterate and poor, but three of the arrested were found to be educated -- one a post graduate in commerce, another a graduate in sciences and another a college dropout.

GFX

84 arrested at Anjaneya Puram check post.
Lorry Seized. AP04 W 3877
48 axes, 10 saws, 3 knives.
10 bags of rice, utensils, and vegetables
Food packets for 24 hours during Journey

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The New Indian Express
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