Red sanders smugglers give cops the slip at night

Red sander smugglers attacked police personnel on Sunday midnight near the Renigunta check-post, 11 km from here, after their truck was intercepted by the latter.

The smugglers abandoned the truck carrying red sanders logs estimated to be worth over `4crore and escaped under the cover of darkness.

Police sources said the truck driver didn't stop near the border checkpost after which the checkpost staff alerted the Renigunta police. A police team comprising of sub-inspector Mallesh Yadav and armed policemen swung into action and pursued the truck, which was on its way into Tamil Nadu from Kadapa .

Police said as the jeep tried to overtake the truck,

The smugglers started pelting stones at the police when they tried to intercept their truck, forcing cops to open fire

the smugglers started throwing stones at the jeep forcing the SI to pull back. Police then fired two rounds in the air as a warning after which the smugglers stopped the truck and fled into the wilderness.

Police then seized the truck and alerted forest authorities about the red sanders consignment, which weighs nearly 10 tonnes.

There has been no letdown in incidents of red sanders smuggling despite increased number of check- posts and night-patrolling along national highways, particularly towards Chennai. There have been several instances of largescale smuggling of red sanders despite claims by the forest department that they would not let smugglers take away even a single log from the forest.

There have been several encounters between smugglers and forest personnel and armed police parties escorting them. But this is the first time smugglers have stoned the police forcing them to open fire.

In the last one year, forest personnel and police took over 500 labourers and a dozen smugglers into custody, but that has not prevented smuggling. It may be mentioned that a few years ago, red sanders smugglers had brutally murdered a forest official near Yerpedu, when he was chasing smugglers.