The Palamaner police on Friday seized a huge stock of chewing tobacco and liquor bottles, and three mini-vans used for their transport, besides arresting nine accused from various parts of Bengaluru city and surroundings, at Gundrajupalle checkpost 50 km from here.
Acting on a tip-off, Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar formed a special party led by Deputy SP (Palamaner) C.M. Gangaiah to conduct the operation. The special party intercepted the vehicles coming from Karnataka and proceeding towards Chittoor. Police foiled the efforts of the accused to escape. The seized stocks were shifted to the area police station at Gangavaram.
The Deputy SP said that the modus operandi of the accused was to load the contraband stock into the vehicles and cover the load with vegetables in order to evade detection by the police at checkposts. He said that in view of the lockdown, the surveillance at the border checkposts with Karnataka was stepped up. The nine accused in the age group of 25-40 were wanted in various inter-State crimes in Chittoor district and Karnataka.