SANDALWOOD SMUGGLERS GIVEN A REGIONAL TAG.

 On the 7^th of April an encounter took place in the Nallamala Forests just 20 KM away from Tirupati Andhra Pradesh when red sandalwood smugglers attacked the anti smuggling task force of the Andhra Pradesh Police who were patrolling. In the encounter 20 smugglers were killed. The encounter took place at 5 AM in the morning. The encounter raised violent protest in Tamil Nadu as all the smugglers that were killed belonged to Tamil Nadu and they have crossed over into the Andhra Pradesh forest area.

Chess pieces made from red sandalwood.

Model made from Red sandalwood.

The families of the killed as well as the Tamil parties claim that it is a fake encounter. A magisterial enquiry into the incident was already ordered by the AP Government and is in progress.

As per the AP Police, on that day they have received information that large gang of smugglers have entered into the Nallamala forest area and 15 policemen split into two teams comprising of around 7-8  each started combing the forest area. The encounter took place when the police came across the smugglers carrying red sandalwood logs. When the police party challenged the smugglers who were carrying axes, sickles and even some country guns they attacked the police party initially by throwing stones. The police were numerically far less and numbered around 15 while the smugglers numbered around 100. Of the 15 policemen 11 were injured and some of them seriously which makes one feel that probably the fact that they were attacked is correct. In the Nallamala forest, a number of policemen were earlier killed by the smugglers. It is very probable that the totally outnumbered policemen have fired in panic when they were attacked. 

The human rights activists raised a big hue and cry on the issue and claim that the smugglers were shot in fake encounters. But if they are indeed innocent, then what are a 100 of them doing together at 5 AM in the morning in a protected forest area? It is ridiculous to think that the policemen shot ordinary citizens who were camping in the forest. What would they gain out of doing so? 11 out of the 15 policemen in the operation have been injured, some of them seriously. If indeed it was a fake encounter how did that happen?  

A smuggler is a smuggler and should not be condoned because he is from a particular area. In retaliation to the encounter, properties belonging to Andhra people in Tamil Nadu have been attacked which I think is not correct and gives a different connotation to the incident. The protests and attacks in Tamil Nadu on the properties of people from Andhra Pradesh have continued to this day.

Now what is red sandalwood? It is not the fragrant variety of white sandalwood that is available in the forests in Karnataka. Red sandalwood as its name implies is reddish in color and is highly durable. This wood is very expensive and costs some Rs 50 lacs per ton. This high price lures many smugglers to jump into the trade. A 50 Kg log can be carried by a single person and is worth Rs 2.5 lacs in the international market. The wood is used for medicinal purposes and also for industrial purposes. It is also used as a red color dye. The wood has a very high demand in China.   

Red sandalwood grows in Andhra Pradesh and also partly in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In Andhra Pradesh it covers an area of 4.67 lakh hectares. Red sandalwood abounds in  the Districts of Cuddapah and  Chittor, and is also found in Nellore, Kurnool, Prakasam and the Anantpur Districts of Andhra Pradesh.