Two smugglers hurt and two more flee
Two persons were injured when armed jawans of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station Jalahalli fired at a four-member gang of suspected sandalwood smugglers in the early hours of Friday.
The injured have been admitted to KC General Hospital in Malleswaram, where their condition is said to be stable. Two others managed to escape.
The smugglers had sneaked into the IAF Station premises, cut branches of some sandalwood trees and were gathering the pieces on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Noticing this, the jawans on patrol swung into action and challenged them.
The criminals retaliated by brandishing weapons. They even threatened to kill the jawans if they were stopped. The IAF jawans then fired one round in the air and asked them to surrender, but the smugglers began fleeing. Finally, the jawans fired at them and wounded two.
The two smugglers were identified as Raviappa (40 years) and Reddyappa (45 years).
Both were from V Kote in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. In this regard, the Gangammanagudi police have registered cases of theft and attempt to murder, besides another case under the Forest Act. A hunt is on for the two others.
Earlier too, attempt to cut the sandalwood trees inside the Station by a Tamil Nadu gang was foiled.
