Police seize liquor worth Rs 10 lakh smuggled from Bengaluru, two held
Kumbakonam police on Saturday arrested two persons for smuggling IMFL bottles worth Rs 10 lakh from Bengaluru concealed in the tomato cartons and the investigation found that they were smuggling liquor for the past few weeks among the vegetable boxes from Karnataka.
It is said, Kumbakonam police received information that the IMFL bottles are sold in black market widely in the region with exorbitant price as the Tasmac outlets are closed in Tamil Nadu owing to lockdown.
Based on the information, a special team was formed and they were conducting investigations. The police also tightened vehicle checks across the region.
On Saturday, received information that a huge quantity of liquor had been smuggled from Bengaluru to Kumbakonam and the police who were conducting vehicle checkup at Darasuram bypass near Kumbakonam found a load vehicle displaying the sticker of essential items. When the police stopped the vehicle, the driver sped up the vehicle and so the police chased the vehicle and surrounded it after a few minutes of chase at Kumbakonam-Chennai bypass.
Subsequently, the police conducted a thorough check up in the vehicle and they were surprised to see cartons of IMFL bottles concealed in the tomato boxes.
The police arrested the driver S Murugayyan (32) from Karaikudi and Rajkumar (33) from Kumbakonam and seized as many as 1616 bottles worth Rs 10 lakh. The police are searching for the vehicle owner Jayakumar from Porayar.