1.50 tonnes of tobacco products seized, 5 held

Police have seized 1.50 tonnes of banned tobacco products at Puliyangudi in the district and arrested five persons.
The police said surveillance in and around Puliyangudi was intensified on Sunday night following information about smuggling of banned tobacco products. When a police team noticed a lorry parked in front of a house in Moolikulam near Puliyangudi around midnight, it started monitoring the vehicle from a distance.

As the lorry driver and a few others started unloading bags from the vehicle and stocking them in the house, the police surrounded them. While the lorry driver was identified as Nataraj, 45, from Salem, the person who had taken on lease the house was Sengan, 50, of Moolikulam. Others were Muthukumar, 32, and Durai, 42, from Kadayanallur, who had come there to buy the tobacco products, and lorry cleaner Govindaraj, 22, of Salem.

During interrogation, the police came to know that Sengan, the mastermind behind this illegal lucrative business, had taken on lease the house to stock it and was running this illegal business for the past several years to make huge money. He had brought it from Salem to be stocked at his village of Moolikulam and sell it to his customers from various parts of Tenkasi district.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/150-tonnes-of-tobacco-products-seized-5-held/article35684264.ece