CHENNAI: The Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) of the Avadi City Police arrested three people and recovered 6.5 tonnes of gutkha products on Monday. The police intercepted a truck at Poonamallee based on a tip-off and recovered the truck registered in Karnataka.

The accused were identified as M Vignesh (27) and his assistant S Kumar (44) of Marakanam in the Villupuram district. Inquiries revealed that the duo were smuggling the banned tobacco products from Bengaluru to Chennai.

Based on their information, the police arrested P Senthil alias Kanagalingam (38) of Iyyappanthangal, who had purchased the product.

Police are investigating further to find out if more persons are involved in smuggling the contraband from Karnataka.