CHENNAI: In a crackdown against drugs, gutka and lottery across the state, police have arrested 6,623 offenders involved in selling the banned products.
The crackdown had been going on across the state since December 6, a police official said.
As part of the operation, police confiscated 23 kg of heroin worth 23 crore in Toothukudi district.
In another operation, police nabbed 871 offenders who were involved in 816 cases of selling ganja.
They also seized 1,774 kg of ganja worth Rs 1.8 crore. The 184 vehicles (129 bikes and 25 cars) which were used for smuggling the contraband were also seized.
Among those arrested Periyasamy, 39 and Srinivasan, 30, from Andhra Pradesh were major smugglers. With the arrest of these two, police said that ganja smuggling will be curbed to a large extent.
In another operation, police nabbed 5,037 people in 5,457 cases.and seized gutka worth 4.2 crore from them.
Trichy and Poonamallee witnessed the highest seizure of gutka 540 kg and 1,200 kg respectively.
With respect to sale of lottery, police arrested 1,091 people in 816 cases and seized lotteries worth 35.4 lakh. Police have asked the general public to alert them on ‘100’ and ‘112’ if they find anyone selling ganja, gutka and lottery.
