Banned tobacco products worth Rs. 31.50 lakh were seized from a godown in North Avani Moola Street here on Sunday.
Acting on a tipoff, a police team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Thilagar Thidal), A. Ganesan, and the Inspector of Police, K.T. Rajan Babu, raided the warehouse and seized the tobacco products.
“The government has banned sale and storage of tobacco products in close proximity to schools and colleges. This godown is located near a school. The contraband is worth Rs. 31.50 lakh,” the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) R. Thirunavukkarasu told reporters here on Monday.
Among the items seized were 84 bundles of gutka and 15 bundles of chewing tobacco. The police arrested A. Ravindran (27) of Surya Nagar and T. Mathivanan (53) of South Gate. The police are on the lookout for Mariappan who stocked the products in the godown.
Thirty cases have been registered so far since the State government banned carcinogenic chewable forms of tobacco such as gutka and pan masala on May 8, he added.
