Chennai

According to district police Superintendent P Aravindhan, the public can call 90033-90050 to report about sand mining, sale of gutkha, arrack and lottery, or gambling, and immediate action would be taken.

A control room with four police personnel has been set up in the Tiruvallur SP office for Hello Police initiative. Five special teams that function directly under the SP would investigate the complaints received through the number instead of the local police station to maintain secrecy and keep the informer’s details confidential.

Even as the strict lockdown was in place, there were several complaints of sand mining and liquor smuggling, following which the district police booked 155 sand mining and smuggling cases, and arrested 123 persons till May 18.

Also, 151 vehicles were seized from the smugglers who used two-wheelers to ferry sand in small quantities. Bangarampettai, Alathur and Gowdipuram villagers in Tiruvallur district and Putheri lake in Kancheepuram are some of the areas where the sand mining remain rampant.

Similarly, smuggling of gutkha and ganja is often reported in Tiruvallur, which it is the gateway to enter Chennai from Andhra Pradesh.

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