Six men arrested for smuggling PDS rice to Kerala

ERODE: Six men were arrested near Gobichettipalayam in Erode district of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday morning for smuggling PDS rice to Kerala. Police seized 1,750 kg of rice from them.The accused have been identified as N Chandrasekar, 45, and J Nallasivam, 28 of Nagapattinam district, G Karthikeyan, 31, V Moorthy, 34, R Bharathi, 27 and K Udayakumar, 22 of Morattupalayam village near Uthukkuli in Tirupur district.The Gobichettipalayam police got a tip-off that a gang was smuggling PDS rice in a goods carrier via Tiruppr district to Kerala. “Based on the tip-off, we have checked the vehicles at Naickenkadu area,” said a police officer at the Gobichettipalayam police station. They intercepted a goods carrier van and found 35 bags (each weighing 50kgs) of PDS rice.The police officials surrounded six men who travelled in the van and on two motorcycles. During inquiry, they confessed that they were smuggling PDS rice to Kerala. “We arrested the gang based on their confessional statement,” the police officer said. The police later handed over them and the seized rice to the civil supplies CID department for further proceedings.