Two fraudsters held, five cars recovered

The men have been identified as Bhagyaraj (32) of Salem and Sekar (33) of Tirunelveli and five cars were retrieved from them. Police acted on a complaint filed by Devadoss (68), a retired army personnel from Kolathur.

According to Devadoss, Bhagyaraj and Sekar approached him and asked him to give his Maruti car for rental to their travel services and promised him a monthly income. With no message from the duo, Devadoss filed a complaint at Nolambur police station, as the two men had claimed to have an office in the locality.

Later, police found out that the address they had given was fake and launched a search for them. After the arrest, they have admitted to their modus operandi to steal cars to sell them in the black market.

Illegal tobacco products seized: In a huge haul of products used as ingredients to make mawa, a banned form of tobacco, a special team led by Assistant Commissioner of Washermanpet on Saturday seized 21 sacks of jarda tobacco, six mixie grinders among other things from two godowns at Kothavalsavadi.

Five men - Topasamy (62), Ibrahim (58), Saravanan (34), Puranudhin (36) and Ragavendra (26) - were arrested for hiding the products and secretly making ‘mawa’ for illegal sale at a godown at Chinnathambi street. The other four men - Siva (36), Kumar (49), Poongavanam (31), Ramesh (40) - were arrested for making mawa at another godown on Manali road.