Andhra Pradesh: 20 red sandalwood smugglers shot dead in encounter in Chittoor

Hyderabad: At least 20 red sander smugglers were killed on Tuesday in two gunfights with police in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, police said. [caption id=“attachment_2187193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The gunfights occurred in Seshachalam forest at around 5 am in two places within a radius of one km in Chandragiri mandal of Chittoor, about 500 km from Hyderabad. The twenty people who were killed were woodcutters hired by the red-sander smugglers, according to The Hindu. The report also said that this is the highest death toll in a single encounter with the police in the history of red-sanders smuggling. The encounter took place when members of the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Special Task Force (RSASTF) were engaged in combing operations in Srinivasa Mangapuram, Srivarimettu and Eethangunta. When the task force arrived at the spot, the smugglers, along with the help of some labourers, attacked the police with stones and axes, after which the policemen opened fire on them, according to reports. Some police and forest personnel were also injured in the face-off, police said. “Twenty red sander smugglers have died at two places. There was an exchange of fire with our task force personnel. They (smugglers) were carrying red sander logs and attacked the police and forest personnel with sickles and fire arms. They also attacked the personnel with stones,” Additional DGP (Law and Order) RP Thakur told PTI. After the police personnel came under attack, they retaliated, he said. Deputy Inspector General of Police Kanta Rao told reporters that over 100 smugglers and labourers helped them to attack policemen, forcing them to open fire in self-defence. “The smugglers, once challenged by the police, tried to overpower the security personnel and carry away the logs. In the process, they attacked the policemen,” Thakur said. “Most of the smugglers are from Tamil Nadu…they regularly come in our area and cut red sanders which is transported in small vehicles to different places,” he said. The red sander woodcutters come in large numbers of around 100. There is a master organiser who sends the wood cutters. Two of the killed smugglers were international smugglers, according to Deccan Chronicle. There have been similar incidents last year also in which the red sander smugglers attacked police and forest personnel, who too retaliated resulting in killing of some of the smugglers. In May last year, a group of around 200 red sander smugglers had attacked a police team with stones in Mamanduru forests in Chittoor prompting them to fire in the air. Prior to that, a group of around 50 smugglers had attacked a police party with axes while they were on a combing operation in Seshachalam forest. Red sanders grows mainly in Seshachalam hill ranges spread across Kadapa, Chittoor and Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region and parts of Nellore district in AP. It is a valued item in traditional medicines and woodcraft across China, Myanmar, Japan and East Asia. (With agency inputs)