KADAPA/ NELLORE: Five red sander-smugglers, including two from Tamil Nadu, were arrested and nine logs seized from them at Railway Kodur and Pullampet mandals in the district on Monday.
The arrested were identified as Yavaraju, Lakshminarayana, K Subramanyam, Valu and Muthuswamy, the last two from Tamil Nadu. The first three were arrested at SR Palem check-post after five red sander logs were seized from the car in which they were going towards Rajampet. The two smugglers from Tamil Nadu were arrested during raids following information about illegal transport of red sander logs at Mabbukona under Balupalle forest range limits.
Assistant Conservator of Forests Prasuna, along with deputy ranger Pichaiah and other staff, conducted the raids and seized four logs kept ready for transport.
Meanwhile, the Nellore district police said that the 61 woodcutters arrested a day earlier had links with those gunned down in the Seshachalam forest. All of them hail from Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Salem districts. According to sources, police interrogation yielded vital information that the 61 arrested were working for a notorious smuggling gang in TN. Further, it was revealed that the woodcutters could easily gain entry into the Velugonda forest by different modes of transportation.