Hyderabad: Most red sanders smuggling cases are going undetected after seizure of the vehicles carrying the logs in Andhra Pradesh. Thanks to the apathy of forest and the police department which sit on the undetected cases citing lack of evidence. From April 1, 2014 till date around 840 red sanders smuggling cases were recorded and 4,005 persons were arrested. However, 549 cases, in which 462 metric tonnes were seized remained undetected.
 
A forest official said, “Red sanders is seized by both forest and police officials. We catch the vehicles but the drivers and smugglers escape. Unguarded dumps are identified and red sanders logs are unearthed. In these cases it is difficult to nab the accused as we don’t have specific machinery.”
 
“Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force focuses mostly on major cases and they hand over the seized wood to local police who are busy with other cases and sit on the probe.”
 
In AP, the Tirupati wild life management division witnessed the highest number of cases of red sanders smuggling. Rajampet and Chittoor East are the two other divisions where smuggling is rampant.