Task Force seizes banned gutka worth 5 lakh

Warangal: With police cracking down on warehouses that are stocking banned gutka products, the traders involved in the trade are resorting to innovative means to stock the product.

Warangal police commissionerate task force personnel have seized banned gutka packets worth Rs 5 lakhs stocked in a car here on Friday. A car, worth about Rs 11 lakhs, used to stock and transport the products, was seized during vehicle inspections at Kashibugga area in Warangal, the Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu informed.

A trader, called A Satyam of Tailor Street in Hanamkonda involved in the illegal procurement and supply gutka products was taken into custody. It was said that the accused runs a kirana shop in that area and used to supply different tobacco products to local shops.

After the government has imposed ban on gutka and similar products and with the police conducting frequent raids on warehouses of traders to curb the distribution of the products, he bought a car and used it as the storehouse.

The products he procured at Beguam Bazar in Hyderabad were stocked in the car, Sudheer Babu said.

On receiving information that the accused was visiting Shivalayam Street at Kashibugga area, the task force personnel have intercepted his car. During inspection, they found 22 bags of gutka products of different companies in the car.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime following which a case was booked against him at Intezargunj police station. The Commissioner Sudheer Babu appealed the public to inform the department if they found anyone involved in illegal businesses.

The public could pass on the information to police WhatsApp number: 9491089257 and the details of the informants would be kept confidential, he said.

The Commissioner appreciated the taskforce inspectors L Ramesh Kumar and Mahender Reddy and constables Srikanth and Srinivas for seizing the product.