Spurious seeds supplying gangs arrested by Cyberabad police

HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad special operations team (SOT) in a joint operation with the agricultural department busted a racket that was supplying spurious seeds to farmers, and arrested three gangs on Friday.

Police seized spurious seeds weighing around 2.65 tonnes, vehicles used for its transportation and other material from Bachupally, Balanagar and Shabad on the city outskirts, said Cyberabad police commissioner M. Stephen Raveendra.

Boguda Suresh, leader of one of the gangs, was involved in nine cases in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Raveendra said. Gattamaneni Venkataramana, leader of another gang, was involved in two cases in the past.

The gangs procured spurious seeds, got them processed and packed in Karnataka and supplied them to farmers in the suburbs of Hyderabad.

Ravindra said that upon instructions from the government, the police had formed joint teams with police and agricultural department officials to crack down on the trade in spurious seeds.

Mary Rekha and Geetha, district agricultural officers of Medchal Malkajgiri and Ranga Reddy districts, said genuine seeds packets have the details of packing, suitable area for cultivation and details related to its care. Packets of spurious seeds do not have the details, they said and urged farmers to verify the packet before purchase.

They also appealed to farmers to not purchase loose seeds from anyone, not purchase the seeds from unauthorised dealers, not cultivate the banned BG III or HT cotton, which is causing damage to the environment and also not use the herbicide glyphosate.