Public Distribution Scheme rice worth 11 lakh seized four held in Mancherial

Mancherial: Police on Wednesday seized 500 quintals of Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) rice worth Rs 11 lakhs and detained four persons on orders of Ramagundam Commissioner of Police.

Acting on a tip-off, the police has seized 500 quintals of PDS rice, two lorries and two mini goods carrier vehicles from the smugglers and arrested four persons in two different rides.

The Task force police had arrested Pogula Ramesh, resident of Motlapalli of Kalva Srirampur mandal; Bakam Mahesh of Jafarkhanpet of Srirampur mandal under Srirampur police station; and Pradeep Sanvanay and Narendra Sahari, both from Madhya Pradesh, under Srirampur police station. Three others, Bakam Sampath of Sultanabad, Ferdoz of Nagpur and Vasu of Warangal were absconding. The police arrested the accused while they were transporting the PDS rice from Telangana to Maharashtra.

Its learnt that the smugglers ae purchasing PDS rice from small grocery shops and from some fair price dealers at a cost of Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 and selling it at a cost of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 in Maharashtra. Police identified that the smugglers are transporting rice from Karimnagar, Warangal, Peddapalli, Bellampalli, Kagaznagar, Asifabad, and Adilabad district through autos, lorries, vans and DCM vehicles.