The Andhra Pradesh Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (APRSASTF) personnel on Monday nabbed three smuggling operatives and seized logs, worth about ₹40 lakh, and two motorbikes on the outskirts of Sriranga Raja Puram mandal headquarters. 

Addressing a press conference at the Task Force office at Tirupati, Superintendent of Police (Task Force) Meda Sundara Rao said that a team was dispatched to conduct combing operations in the forest-fringe areas of the Chittoor East division on Sunday night.

On Monday morning, the task force team spotted three persons on two motorbikes near SR Puram on the Chittoor-Puttur highway. On seeing the team, the trio tried to flee but was apprehended. After seizing three red sanders’ logs from their possession along with the motorbikes, the combing party led further searches, leading to the confiscation of 16 more logs from the sand bed of a nearby village tank, totaling more than half a tonne, worth about ₹40 lakh. 

The SP said that the accused were identified as Ranjith (25), working as a driver with the APSRTC, Sankar (32) of SR Puram, and Ravi (37) of Mangasamudram village near Chittoor. A case was registered and further investigation is on.

When contacted, the Deputy Chief Traffic Manager (APSRTC) at Chittoor M. Bhaskar Reddy said that he had not received any information about the arrest of an RTC driver. “We need an FIR copy to initiate any further action in this regard,” he said.