Sandalwood smuggling

[Lord Nemesis]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...in-Andhra-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/46848269.cms

Its absurd how when countless forest officials were regularly hacked to death with axes and sickles by these smugglers, nobody gave a damn and they barely ever even made it in news leave alone head lines, but 20 smugglers die in an operation and all hell breaks loose.

I know every well that the inner rings of these smuggling rackets always manage to escape, but the bottom rung of so called labourers are not innocent either like all these protesters are trying to portray them as. They might be doing it earning their wages, but they are the ones who are always involved in the dirty work. They are ones who have always killed the forest guards. If a pack of 3 or 4 forest guard ever chanced on these operations even by accident, they would never manage to make it out alive from them. Even with a planned operation, it would still be a close call since these smuggling operations usually involve 40~60 workers who are all armed with axes and other implements.

As this was a joint raid, the officials had access to guns, without those none of the officials would probably be alive right now.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Politics. Corruption. Media. Government Apathy.

They portray the workers as innocent people who only smuggle so that they can have 2 square meals a day.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

^^ Yes, I even agree many of them are only there to make ends meet and maybe make a bit more than they usually would working as labourers elsewhere. But they are not innocent. Majority of them know fully well what is involved and they are ready to resort to violence and murder against the forest guard if they are ever found and there are considerable number of instances where this has happened.

Its the same as with animal poachers as well. Forest guard are not equipped sufficiently to deal with these sort of people and often end up as casualties. Still, trying to politicize the issue by giving it a region colouring is so shameful.

People want law enforcement to be honest and duty bound, but ultimately, this is the sort of respect they can expect even when they try to do their duty. The tone of arguments is on the lines that law enforcement is getting paid to take risks and die while trying to apprehend criminals without ever resorting to lethal force despite having little other means to defend themselves from a mob (leave alone arrest them) after they resort to violence,

 

[Spacescreamer]

The uproar was expected. India and its too much democracy syndrome.

No concrete/stern/solid action can be digested. Poachers/Smugglers will keep doing their bits and the incredibly dumb Indians will create the noise in the name of region/barbarianism/too much high handedness etc.

Something similar happened with LTTE as well. Unless the govt takes steps even in the face of these customary protests, nothing will ever be established as a norm. Problem is that for political mileage, these official goons in the govt will keep making hay at public's expense.

 

[Being.smart]

That was c***** move to get out of turn promotion

too sad

 

[Arv90]

Middleman cut deal at wedding with woodcutters - The Times of India
For some reason I felt, they were not actual smugglers.
Just a case of people falling to easy money tricks like gold,drugs smuggling.
A mere greed to fill hungry stomach's is being masked as a heinous crime.

Encounter or murder? All you need to know about the killing of 20 red sanders 'smugglers

The holes in the police story

A number of facts have emerged that cast doubt on the police version of events.

For one thing, as pointed out in this Indian Express report, "At one of the two sites where bodies were found, seven of the nine dead had been shot in the face or the back of the head. Many had burn injuries — on the abdomen, shoulders and hands, the skin peeling off". The police had said that the 'burn' marks had been caused by the 'summer heat'.

The Times of India provides further information. It said that "the logs strewn near the bodies were evidently not fresh: A few of them had numbers neatly painted on them and could have been from an earlier seizure." Also raising suspicion was the fact that there were no red sanders trees in the vicinity of the location where the encounter had taken place.

The report also quoted CPI's P Harinath Reddy , who visited the spots, as saying that the knives the men were found with were rusted. “They could not have used them to cut anything. It's a staged encounter.The government is targeting workers instead of going after contractors who employ them to smuggle wood,“ he told the newspaper