Saturday’s raids were in line with Pune Police’s recent action against bars, pubs and lounges illegally selling banned hookah to customers. (File) LAUNCHING a crackdown against illegal sale of electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices, their refills, banned cigarette brands and cigars being sold near schools and colleges, the Crime Branch of Pune City police on Saturday raided several shops where these products were allegedly stashed in hidden compartments for sale, mainly to students. In the daylong raids, the cops booked nine persons and seized products worth over Rs 10 lakh from nine shops located near educational institutes in the city.
The raids were conducted by the teams from the Unit 2 of the Crime Branch of Pune City Police in shops falling under the jurisdiction of Bharti Vidyapeeth, Koregaon Park and Lashkar Police stations following specific inputs.
“All these shops otherwise sell products like snacks, cold drinks, objects of daily needs etc. But during the raids, our teams found hidden drawers or compartments where the owners had stashed electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices, their liquid refills, brands of cigarette and cigars banned due to high content of injurious substances, and related products,” said inspector Krantikumar Patil.
Officials said that during investigation, it came to light that most of the customers of these products were students of schools and colleges among other youngsters in the area.
Overall, the police teams seized banned items worth Rs 10.52 lakh and booked nine persons. The owners of the shops have been issued notices and directed to appear before courts concerned. They have been booked under Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage, and Advertisement) Act, 2019 and Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.
Police officials said that the crackdown will continue in the coming days. Saturday’s raids were in line with Pune Police’s recent action against bars, pubs and lounges illegally selling banned hookah to customers.