Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), Jan 17
Vital information about a massive inter-state teakwood smuggling
racket has emerged from the interrogation of seven suspected Maoists
and 10 others arrested in the forested area bordering Maharashtra
and Andhra Pradesh a few days ago.
The Gadchiroli police, who had an inkling of large quantities of
precious teakwood being smuggled regularly from the border areas of
Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh, hit upon the racket
while raiding a Maoist training camp in Chintarvela village in
Sironcha tehsil of the district earlier this week.
The raid was conducted by the Maharashtra police jointly with their
counterparts from Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh while the
interrogation of the 17 suspects was in progress at Sironcha,
Superintendent of Police (SP) Shirish Jain told IANS Wednesday.
Two of the seven suspected Maoists have turned out to be brothers of
Jana Shakti dalam commander Sagar while another one has confessed to
be a hardcore cadre, Jain said.
The 10 villagers from Andhra Pradesh, caught transporting teakwood
logs in 20 bullock carts across the Godavari river that runs along
the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border are apparently involved in the
racket as fellers, agents or buyers, he added.
"We will soon take the help of officers from the police and the
forest departments of Andhra Pradesh to further investigate the
leads emerging from the interrogation about the teakwood smugglers'
links with saw mill operators and timber merchants in Karimnagar,
Warangal and Khammam districts of Anhdra Pradesh," Jain said.
Police stumbled upon the contraband dumps while chasing the Maoists
in the camp after an exchange of fire past Sunday midnight. Eight
tents, utensils and Rs.50,000 in cash were recovered from the camp
site and the teakwood-laden bullock carts were found quite some
distance away, the district police chief said.
"The raid has bared a hitherto unknown source of income of the
Maoists, who are known to be conducting their activities on the
money extorted from forest contractors and traders based in forest
areas," Jain said.
The Gadchiroli SP, who is conducting the probe under the guidance of
Special Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pankaj Gupta, expressed
satisfaction over the seven-day police custody remand (PCR) granted
by the court in Sironcha Tuesday to unearth the entire smuggling
racket.
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