Officials of the forest and police departments of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh handed over six school students, who were caught red-handed cutting red sanders in the forest area in Chittoor, to the police department in Polur Taluk in Tiruvannamalai district on Sunday.
A team of five officials led by DSP of Chittoor Rajeswar Reddy brought the six boys to Jamunamaruthur police station and handed them over to Polur DSP Ballullah.
“The AP officials said they did not file any case against the boys taking into account their age and future,” said police officials in Jamunamaruthur. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Polur, Mohammed Ballullah, said the boys, aged between 15 and 18 years, were arrested during a raid to check smuggling of red sanders deep inside Chittoor forest on Saturday. The boys hail from Pudupattu, Thenthur, Ellaparai and Gumikandur tribal villages in and around Jamunamaruthur, in Javadhu Hills.
Two youth -- Sekar (25) of Elluparai and Ravi (30) of Themmareddi, were arrested along with the boys. While the Forest Department registered cases against the two youth, it let off the six boys with a warning. The incident brings to light the fact that young boys are being employed by red sander smugglers to carry out their work.
“The AP police and forest officials said tribal youth, particularly from Javadhu Hills, were largely employed by smugglers to fell the trees in return of cash,” said a police official, adding that the children are equipped with modern machines to hack, debark and chop the wood into a transportable size.
The smugglers have plundered a large portion of red sanders in and around Chittoor and Seesachalam forest areas in Andhra Pradesh.
It may be recalled that the Tirupati Wildlife Officials recently arrested around 160 tribals, all from Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts, when they were on their way to the forest in Thepalle in mid-June this year.