TIRUPATI: In a scene straight out of the Tollywood movie ‘Pushpa’, a gang of 14 members were involved in smuggling red sanders from the Balapalli east forest area in Railway Kodur range using an ambulance so that they can trick officials at check posts. However, the gang ran out of luck as the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) nabbed 10 members of the gang on Thursday (August 3).
According to Task Force DSP (Operations) D Muralidhar, RSI Raghavendra’s team while conducting a combing operation in the forest area identified a person moving suspiciously on a motorcycle. They took him into their custody. After he spilled the beans, the Task Force officials conducted a raid and observed an ambulance stationed in the forest area.
The sleuths held seven of them. They said Ramana Reddy, a key accused in the case, is a repeat offender. A native of Vinjamur in Nellore district, he would deploy woodcutters through Elagiri in Tamil Nadu to chop the red sanders trees in the forest area.
The Preventive Detention Act was also invoked against him earlier, yet he continued to smuggle the logs. Officials added that Ramana Reddy is at large. Another accused in the case, Prasad, was responsible for moving the woodcutters into the forest from Anantapur via Gooty, Tirupati and drop them in the Balapalli forest area. Task Force police registered a case.