Ramagundam Commissioner of Police’s Task Force, Mancherial police and officials from Mancherial agriculture department on Saturday conducted surprise raids and busted an inter-State spurious seed racket.

The raids were conducted on shops operating in the limits of Mancherial, Ramakrishnapur, Mandamarri, Tallagurijala, nennel and Kannapalli police station limits in Mancherial district.

Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana said 33 quintals of fake cotton seeds worth about ₹66 lakh were seized and 13 businessmen were arrested.

A few persons, hailing from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and settled in Mancherial, colluded with locals to procure fake cotton seeds from Guntur, Kurnool, Nandyal and Gujarat at cheaper rates, and sold those to gullible farmers and made enormous profits, Mr. Satyanarayana said.