Hyderabad: Gangs smuggle tobacco on trains

Hyderabad: Taking advantage of the different rules between states, many gangs are smuggling chewing tobacco products from Gujarat to Telangana state in railway cargo.

The Hyderabad police busted a gang that was smuggling tobacco products and herbicide tolerant cotton seeds from Gujarat.

ACP Gopalapuram K. Srinivas said that one Avala Abhishek, whose manufacturing unit was shut down in Bibinagar, approached a person named Shailesh Jain in Gujarat for consignments of chewing tobacco.

With Sailesh’s help, Abhiskeh allegedly established a manufacturing unit in Gujarat and tried to smuggle the consignment into the city on a train.

Abhishek was to distribute the chewing tobacco to sub dealers and distributors in and around Hyderbad when he was caught on May 6.

He said Telangana state has banned chewing tobacco while Gujarat has not.

Four days later, on May 10, the Gopalapuram police arrested another gang of three members who tried to smuggle chewing tobacco into the city in a similar manner.

The same day, the Gopalapuram police with the help of the Task Force nabbed two persons for illegally transporting 2,005 kg of herbicide tolerant cotton seeds, which is not approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee. In all the cases, the accused used the Rajkot Express which travels between Rajkot in Gujarat and Secunderabad. The police is trying to arrest the accused who are located in Gujarat.

Mr Srinivas said the chewing tobacco was packed in plastic sheets, wrapped with duct tape, packed into cartons and concealed in gunny bags to prevent the odour. Illegal HT cotton seeds look the same as the legal seeds, and checks should be conducted to identify them, he said. Abhishek faces a case of copyright infringement that was filed by Manikchand pan masala. Till 2018, he used to manufacture pan masala under the brand name 7 Hill Manik Chand in a manufacturing unit in Bibinagar. After the police seized the unit, he started manufacturing the product in Gujarat where there are no restrictions and started smuggling it back to the state. He confessed to the police that he had smuggled three consignments in two months.