The Srikalahasthi Police and Special Task Force (STF) seized as many as 60 red sanders logs and arrested 84 operatives near Srikalahasthi on Thursday night.
Acting on a tip-off, the team conducted a search operation only to find the accused transporting a huge haul of logs in different vehicles. The operatives comprised woodcutters and coolies from Villipuram, Dharmapuri, Salem, Vellore and Tiruvanamalai districts of Tamil Nadu.
Police also seized seven vehicles including a heavy-duty truck, five SUVs and a motorcycle. The logs weighed around 1.5 tonnes, and the cost has been estimated at Rs. 1.5 crore.
Two dumps foundIn a separate incident, Forest Department officials on Friday recovered red sanders dumps at two locations near Rangampet on the outskirts of Tirupati.
The logs were found during combing operations in the Seshachalam forests undertaken by five teams of the Forest Department. According to Divisional Forest Officer (Tirupati) G. Srinivasulu, the red sanders dumps were spotted by two teams moving in the Bhakrapet-Rangampet forest areas.
The officials recovered two sets of 37 and 31 red sanders logs from the locations. The logs weighed around 1.8 tonnes and fall under A & B grade quality of logs.
