KADAPA: Police on Monday seized 22 red sanders logs weighing 530 kg and arrested three smugglers in Siddavatam forest after conducting a raid. A car and an auto were also seized. Addressing mediapersons, district SP KKN Anburajan said acting on a tip-off received by DSP B Venkata Siva Reddy, Vontimitta Inspector B Raja Prabhakar, Siddavatam SI M Madhusudhan Reddy, along with their staff conducted a raid and apprehended three smugglers at Mandapalli village.
The smugglers were identified as R Kadiraiah (A1) and R Kadiraiah (A2), both belonging to Vontimitta, and S Prathap of Kadapa. The SP said the main accused, who is a farmer, used to hire woodcutters for axing red sanders trees in the forest. The second accused wanted in 12 cases, used to arrange transportation for woodcutters in his auto and oversee the shifting of logs from one point to the other. The third accused used to smuggle the red sanders logs to Bengaluru in vehicles.