Thoothukudi SP S Jeyakumar said the hijacking incident occurred on Friday when the truck carrying 16 tonnes of cashew worth Rs 1.10 lakh was forcefully intercepted by the gang of seven.

The SP said truck actually moved from an export company at Killiyoor, Kanniyakumari district to ship the consignment through a lorry booking agent in Thoothukudi.

The gang in a car intercepted the truck at Pottalurani near Pudukottai and attacked the truck driver V Hari (40) of Alangulam, before hijacking the cashew laden truck. After learning of the incident, S Muthukumar (43), cashier of the lorry booking agent, lodged a complaint with the Pudukottai police. Special team spotted the truck moving near Kakkaveri in Namakkal district and nabbed them.

Those arrested have been identified as Gnanaraj Jebasingh (39), son of ST Chellapandian, of Annai Teresa Nagar, Thoothukudi, S Vishnu Perumal (26) , M Pandi (21), G Marimuthu (30) , Senthil Murugan (35) , D Rajkumar (26) and S Manoharan (36) , sources said.