CHENNAI: Smuggling of ration rice bundles to Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh has become a saga that has greatly affected Tamil Nadu family card holders due to lack of vigilance along the state borders.

To keep a check on this, special forces are being set up across the State.

Expressing his concern, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has written a letter to Chief Minister MK Stalin urging him to stop the smuggling of ration rice from the State.

He wrote, "Ration rice smuggling from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka via Andhra Pradesh should be stopped. Most of the ration rice is smuggled through Vaniyambadi, Thumberi, and Pernampattu. In 16 months, 13 cases have been reported in his Kuppam constituency."

Explaining the modus operandi, Naidu said PDS rice from Tamil Nadu would be smuggled to AP and sent to rice mills. The millers would polish the rice and send it back to their smugglers, who will sell them at higher prices in the open market or smuggle to Karnataka, Naidu informed.

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