3 tonnes of gutka smuggled from Bengaluru seized, six held in Thanjavur

THANJAVUR: Thanjavur police seized 3 tonnes of banned gutkha smuggled from Bengaluru on Thursday and arrested six persons including a 15-year-old boy. On a tip off that a huge quantity of banned gutkha has been smuggled by a car from Bengaluru, the DIG (Thanjavur Range) A Kayalvizhi formed a special team headed by ADSP Jayachandran to nab the culprits and seize the contraband. Subsequently, on Thursday, the team conducted a vehicle inspection at Thanjavur-Srinivasapuram and stopped a car proceeding at high speed. The team found a huge quantity of banned gutkha. Further inquiry led to gutkha hoarded in a godown at Mela Veedhi in Thanjavur and the team seized the gutkha and a car used for smuggling. The arrested were identified as Pravin Kumar (21) from Bengaluru, Pakkaram (48), Mohammed Farook (35) and Panneer Selvam (40), all from Thanjavur, Cholaram (41) from Muthupettai and a 15-year-old boy.