TIRUPATI: Sleuths of the Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) arrested two most wanted inter-State smugglers during a combing operation at Karakambadi forest beat near Tirupati on Thursday. They seized 31 red sanders logs valued at `20 lakh, six mobile phones and a car from their possession.
The smugglers, identified as Sk Champathi Basha (36) and Sk Champathi Zakir (27) of Chapadu Mandal in Kadapa district, are siblings and have been booked in a total of 89 cases so far. Explaining their modus operandi, police said the accused would don a police uniform to escape the cops at the forest checkposts.
The uniforms were recovered during the combing operation. RSASTF SP K Chakravarthy said Basha and Zakir had been involved in the smuggling of the precious wood for the past six to seven years and were out on bail.“Preventive Detention Act was invoked against the brothers before and they had even sent to jail,” the SP explained.