The Satyavedu police on Wednesday conducted a raid at an unauthorized godown at Tada in SPSR Nellore district and seized over one hundred tonnes of PDS (public distribution system) rice and seven vehicles, all worth over ₹1 crore.
Addressing a press meet at Satyavedu, Deputy SP (Puttur) T.D. Yashwant said after keeping a thorough watch on the inter-State rice smuggling activities spread over Nellore, Chittoor and Tamil Nadu, a special party led by Circle-Inspector (Satyavedu) B. Srinivasulu and Sub-Inspector Nagarjuna Reddy was formed.
After the arrest of a few members of the gang involved in the rice smuggling, a flash raid was conducted on a gowdown at Tada, leading to the seizure of rice bags and vehicles meant for their clandestine inter-State transport.
It was observed that after the PDS was made electronically operational, the gang members had resorted to luring the poor and downtrodden sections by offering a price for the ration-rice. The rice procured as such would be shifted to the unauthorized godown, from where it would be channelled to various destinations. The police said that so far eight persons, belonging to Chittoor, Nellore and Tamil Nadu, were arrested and remanded. Further investigation is on.