Pushpa-style timber smuggling foiled in Bhupalpally district, 2 arrested
To avoid being caught by forest officials, the smugglers allegedly concealed the timber logs beneath the compact truck
BHUPALPALLY: Telangana Forest Department officials nabbed two persons in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district while they were smuggling timber from Sironcha to Warangal on Monday night.
The smugglers were reportedly inspired by Allu Arjun's blockbuster movie Pushpa. To avoid being caught by forest officials, the smugglers allegedly concealed the timber logs beneath the compact truck.
The smugglers also left the truck empty rather than loading it with legal goods so that no one would stop them and they would be able to cross the checkpoint easily.
However, the alert forest officials of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district detected the hidden timber logs in their vehicle and apprehended them during a night patrol.
According to B Lavanya, District Forest Officer (DFO), the timber was being smuggled from Sironcha in Maharashtra.
"A case was registered, and the vehicle has been confiscated. An investigation is also being carried out to determine the source and destination of the smuggled timber," Lavanya told Newstap.
Mohan Chandra Pargaien, Telangana’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Nodal Officer of the Telangana Forest Conservation Act, took to Twitter and hailed the forest officials saying, "Alert forest staff thwarted innovative timber smuggling attempts from Sironcha to Warangal via Bhupalpally. Well done, forest team and DFO B Lavanya."