Banned tobacco worth Rs8.85 lakh seized from milk container, owner absconding

Nagpur: Flavoured tobacco — which is banned in Maharashtra — worth around Rs8.85 lakh was seized by Jaripatka police after intercepting a milk container from CMPDI Road on Sunday. The food and drugs administration (FDA) has collected the samples to test the seized consignment at government laboratory.
Police said the consignment was allegedly procured and bought from a Chhindwara businessman, identified as Farook by Vijay Traders owner Vijay Jethani, who has been made an accused in the case.
Senior inspector Vaibhav Jadhav of Jaripatka police station said the vehicle’s driver Kishan Tandekar was taken into custody, while owner Jethani is at large since the action. “The sacks of scented and flavoured tobacco were being ferried behind the milk crates. We intercepted the vehicle after specific information,” said Jadhav, adding that the action was led by zonal deputy police commissioner (DCP) Manish Kalwaniya and ACP Roshan Pandit, supervised by CP Amitesh Kumar.
“We have also included the name of the Chhindwara supplier Farook in the FIR against the racketeers,” Jadhav further said, adding that there are previous records against Jethani after his consignment was intercepted by crime branch a few days ago.
According to an insider, Jethani and other tobacco kingpins in the city like Anil, Bharat and Niraj had been procuring flavoured tobacco from Chhindwara and Seoni in Madhya Pradesh, where suppliers like Shankar and Farook have been providing them consignments worth crores of rupees. These consignments are brought in carrier vehicles behind sacks of grains, masala and so on, to evade interception.
Apart from Nagpur, it’s learnt that Yavatmal too has become a hub of scented tobacco, due to its proximity to Madhya Pradesh.