The Thiruvallur police on Sunday caught a 27-year-old person of Sathyavedu, attempting to smuggle rice meant to be distributed for economically weaker sections of society through the Public Distribution System (PDS).
A senior police official of the Thiruvallur district said a special team posted at Thiruttani-Kanakamachathiram check post of Andhra Pradesh border, was engaged in the border check point to prevent rice and gutka smuggling when a mini truck bearing registration no. TN07AC6604 was stopped for routine checking operations and was found to be loaded with several packed rice bags.
Upon further inspection of the ‘branded’ rice bags the police team identified the rice to be meant for PDS. The accused A. Dinesh said more than 4,000 kilograms of PDS rice was planned to be taken to AP for further processing.
The police official said the PDS rice smuggling is a big racket across the border whereby the PDS rice is polished and then brought back to Tamil Nadu to be sold at a higher price.
The Thiruvallur police along with officials of the Civil Supplies department have been conducting regular raids and special checks, and the seizure of 4,000 kgs of rice is one of the huge catch said the police official.
The police official are conducting further investigation as they believe a big gang is involved in this particular consignment.
The police team have also seized the mini truck in which the smuggled rice was transported.
