The Civil Supplies CID officers on Thursday seized two trucks near Kundadam in Tiruppur district carrying around 38 tonnes of rice meant for the public distribution system (PDS) that was allegedly being smuggled to Kerala.
Police sources said the Tiruppur Unit of CS-CID received a tip-off regarding the alleged smuggling, following which a police team conducted a vehicle check on the Dharapuram-Palladam Road on Thursday afternoon. During the vehicle check, one truck was found to have around 18 tonnes of PDS rice and broken rice. Following this, the police team detained the truck driver Eswaran (36) and seized the truck. Within an hour, another truck was stopped during vehicle check, in which 20 tonnes of PDS rice and broken rice were found, according to the sources. Following this, the police team seized this truck and detained its driver Selvaraj (46).
Preliminary investigations revealed that the two accused were not in league with each other and that they had attempted to smuggle the rice separately. The rice was allegedly smuggled from the southern districts of the State to Kerala, the sources said. The Tiruppur Unit of CS-CID registered a case against the two accused under provisions of the Tamil Nadu Scheduled Commodities (Regulation of Distribution by Card System) Order, 1982 and Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and sent them for remand in judicial custody on Friday.
