190kg of gutkha smuggled from Bengaluru seized in Trichy

Trichy: Officials of the food safety and drug administration department seized 190kg of banned gutkha from a Karnataka-registered container truck at a private parcel service company in Panjappur, Trichy, on Wednesday. In a statement on Thursday, Dr R Ramesh Babu, designated officer (DO) of the department said that the illicit operation was exposed when the team apprehended local suppliers R Posangu, R Krishnamoorthy, and a local vendor, Nallusamy, who were found to be in possession of more than 14kg of gutkha on Tuesday. Acting on the information provided by the trio, the team conducted a thorough search at the parcel service office, and found the concealed gutkha consignment. The seized goods were handed over to the Edamalaipatti Pudhur police station. A complaint was lodged against the manager of the parcel service firm, P Karunanidhi, the container driver, P Senthil, Posangu and Krishnamoorthy. Babu revealed that after procuring the gutkha through the container from Bengaluru, Posangu and Krishnamoorthy would take delivery of the bulk quantity in a car. The car would then be stationed in Ichikamalaipatti near KK Nagar, serving as a stock point from which the gutkha would be distributed to retailers in the city and the border areas of neighbouring districts using a mini truck. The food safety officials have appealed to the general public to provide information about gutkha sales in their respective areas, assuring them that their identities will be kept strictly confidential.