Five Tamil Nadu woodcutters arrested in Tirumala

TIRUPATI: Five woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were nabbed in Tirumala by TTD vigilance and security wing sleuths on Saturday.
According to TTD’s assistant vigilance and security officer Veera Babu, five men were seen moving around suspiciously near Srivari pushkarini, adjacent to the Tirumala temple. Following which the sleuths arrested them. ‘‘We located them near the temple tank with the help of our CCTV cameras and nabbed them”, he said.
On being questioned, they revealed that they are woodcutters from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu.They were hired by red sanders smugglers and were about to enter the Seshachalam forests to fell and smuggle red sanders away.
An inspection of their belongings, however, did not reveal anything suspicious.
The five were handed over to Tirumala police, who have registered a case.