Bodies of five red sanders woodcutters found in Andhra lake

Bodies of five red sanders woodcutters were found in a lake in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district on Sunday, police said

Representational Pic

Bodies of five red sanders woodcutters were found in a lake in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district on Sunday, police said.

Police were investigating the cause of their death. It is suspected that they drowned in the lake while trying to escape the police searching the area to check smuggling of the rare wood.

Locals spotted the bodies floating in Vontimitta lake on Kadapa-Tirupati highway and alerted the police. The bodies were in a decomposed state. Axes, torches and food items were found in their backpacks recovered near the lake.

The woodcutters were suspected to be working for red sanders smugglers in Seshachalam forests. All of them are believed to be from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The state police's Red Sanders Task Force recently intensified the operations to check smuggling. Last week, police had opened fire in the air to disperse a group of woodcutters trying to attack forest officials.

In 2015, 20 red sanders woodcutters were killed by police in Seshachalam hill ranges near Tirupati in Chittoor district. Since then, police arrested several smugglers and their workers.

Seshachalam forest is known for red sanders. The rare wood has huge demand in the international market and is mainly used in aphrodisiac drugs and for making musical instruments and furniture.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Except for the change in headline, the story has been  provided "AS-IS," "AS AVAILABLE, without any verification or editing from our side. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!