Two forest officials brutally killed by smugglers
TIRUPATI: Two forest officials were killed and another seriously injured, when a gang smuggling red sanders attacked them with stones in Seshachalam Hills near here on Sunday morning, police said.
The attack occurred when the officials were patrolling the area. No arrests have been made so far, as the gang fled the scene after the incident, the police said.
Had there been proper coordination between forest officials and police or the Special Task Force (STF) constituted to curb red sanders smuggling, the attack on forest officers could have been avoided.
'The forest personnel know there are smugglers in the area and that they are armed. But they did not inform us and went on their own only to be attacked,' said a police officer.
The forest staff had information that over 100 smugglers were camping near Ganchi Banda, but they did not inform the police. Instead, a handful of forest staff went to nab the smugglers.
'The forest men perform their routine job of going into their respective beat areas from time to time and they are not required to inform the police or STF about it.
However, it is their prime responsibility to take armed forces along if they have prior information about the presence of armed smugglers. This is to not only avoid casualties, but also to ensure that the smugglers do not flee,' an STF officer said on condition of anonymity.
'We may not be able to nab all smugglers, but can effectively prevent an attack,' the officer added.
'When a joint team of about 25 forest and police officials, accompanied by STF personnel, are attacked by hundreds of smugglers, we would open one or two rounds of fire in the air and they (smugglers) would flee the spot without any further retaliation,' he said.
Earlier, the forest staff used to limit their activities to seizure of logs while they were being transported. But in the recent years, especially after the STF formation, they started taking up combing operations and setting up base camps in the forest areas where the density of red sanders trees is high.
News Posted: 16 December, 2013
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