Smuggling of red sandalwood continues as 61 more arrested
HYDERABAD: Days after a controversial encounter that killed 20 alleged smugglers in Chittoor, red sandalwood smuggling activities are carrying on unabated in Andhra Pradesh.
The state police arrested 61 smugglers over the weekend from neighbouring Nellore district. SP Gajarao Bhupal told HT over the phone that all the arrested smugglers and woodcutters are from northern Tamil Nadu districts like Vellore and Villupuram.
Police suspect these men could be the same who had escaped from the Seshachalam forests after Tuesday’s encounter.
While 18 were arrested on Saturday from Anantasagaram area, 43 were arrested on Sunday morning from Somasila. 12 others managed to escape on Saturday, police said. “On Sunday morning, the forest officials went in search of the smugglers but were attacked. Our teams then went and arrested the men. They include woodcutters, guides and smugglers. They have not confessed but we are inferring that they could be the same gang that escaped from Seshachalam,” Bhupal said.
40 logs of sandalwood worth `2 crore and four vehicles were also seized.
“These activities, continuing even after the encounter, show how determined these smugglers are,” a police official said.
Meanwhile, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday decided to order a full enquiry by a Special Investigation Team into the Nalgonda encounter on Tuesday that killed five undertrials. An order to the extent and constitution of the SIT will be made on Monday.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday , Union minister Venkaiah Naidu reportedly said the Centre would not intervene in the incidents in Andhra and Telangana and that the states were probing the matter. Naidu is said to have lashed out at the AIMIM and the rights activists for not speaking out when the policemen, forest officials were killed by the smugglers.