Rs 2 crore worth red sanders seized; 33 smugglers held

In continuing crackdown on illegal trade of red sanders, police seized the precious timber worth about Rs two crore in and around the dense Seshachalam Hill ranges in the Chittoor District during the last 24 hours and arrested 33 inter-state smugglers of the wood.
The seizures were made by combing police teams which also impounded nine vehicles involved in transporting the red sanders, whose felling is prohibited, police said today.
They arrested 33 persons allegedly engaged in the smuggling of red sanders from the hill ranges, a principal geographical range for the trees.
After N Chandrababu Naidu became Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in June, police and forest officials in Chitoor District have mounted intensified operations to put an end to the two-decade long smuggling of the timber, which is in demand in South Asian countries for making musical instruments, from the hill ranges.

Yesterday, in a joint operation, a task force team from Chittoor and Vijayawada police raided a godown on the outskirts of Vijayawada and seized red sanders logs worth about Rs 100 crore in the international market.