Madurai City police seized banned tobacco products worth ₹11.54 lakh.
The police said that a team of police from S.S. Colony found some persons loading things packed in plastic bags into autorickshaws on Bharathiyar Street, on Friday. When the police enquired, the accused gave contradictory statements, following which the police interrogated them and found that the accused were trying to sell banned tobacco products, including gutka.
The police seized 56 bags of tobacco products illegally stocked there.
The police said that the accused had bought the tobacco products from Bengaluru and were selling the products at a premium to traders from Madurai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul and Sivaganga.
The police identified the accused as B. Karthik Deepak (31) of Bharatiyar Nagar, A. Ashok Muthiah (31) of Kodimangalam, K. Ghouse Basha (47), of Ansari Nagar, K. Kannan (40) of Chittalatchi Nagar, M. Tamilselvam (35) of Arapaaayam, A Senthil (34) of Pykkara and K. Karthik Pandi (24) of P.P. Chavadi.
The police also seized the two vehicles.
The goods were handed over to the officials of the Food Safety Department for further action.
