Stella L Ship set to sail on Jan 4

Kakinada : The Stella L Panama ship, which was seized on November 27 for being loaded with rice meant for the Public Distribution System and was being used to smuggle it to West Africa, will now resume its voyage on January 4.

The ship was flagged during the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and Minister for Civil Supplies Nadendla Manohar to the Kakinada port. It had unearthed a major scam that started on a large scale during the YSRCP regime. Many things are now unfolding that even some former ministers and political leaders had played a major role in the rice smuggling activities.

Some sortex equipment was also found within the premises of the Kakinada port. The port was converted into a fortress with no permission for anyone to enter it.

A multi-departmental probe that was ordered by the TDP-led alliance government revealed that the Stella ship was loaded with 1,320 metric tons of PDS rice. The rice was unloaded and shifted to local storage facilities under the supervision of District Collector Sagili Shan Mohan. The ship remained docked for nearly a month as officials worked to determine the full extent of the irregularities.

Unloading of the smuggled PDS rice was delayed due to adverse weather conditions, including a low-pressure system in the region. Officials have confirmed that the process of unloading the seized PDS rice from the ship was completed on Sunday. The unloaded rice was handed over to the Civil Supplies Department and has been stored in a designated warehouse at the Anchorage Port.