TIRUPATI: The Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) sleuths seized 85 red sander logs worth Rs 1.20 crore and weighing 1.5 tonnes, in three separate incidents on Saturday. The police arrested nine smugglers and seized four two-wheelers and goods vehicles at Papavinasam, 6th and 7th Miles on the down ghat road of Tirumala-Tirupati.
The arrested have been identified as Pebchalaiah (49), Parandamaiah (45), Sanduri Subramaniam (36), Boyalagadda Munaswamy (68), Manku Varadarajulu (60), Naraganti Murali (45), Kondareddy Chengalrayudu (36), Mallikarjuna (25) and Arumulla Srinivasulu (24), all belonging to Tirupati.
According to RSASTF CI Rama Krishna, three task force teams led by RI Suresh Kumar Reddy under the supervision of Task Force SP M Sundara Rao carried out combing operations at Papavinasam and Tirumala forest areas on Friday night.
In one incident, a task force police team sighted a group of smugglers carrying red sander logs at the 7th Mile on Tirumala down ghat road. They arrested eight smugglers and seized 30 logs from the spot. In another incident, a task force team at the 6th Mile arrested one smuggler and seized 25 logs.