In a morning operation, the district police seized a tanker lorry with 20,000 litres of rectified spirit here in Tharangambadi on Wednesday. Based on a tip-off, a team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Sibi Chakravarthy intercepted the tanker lorry with a Chandigarh registration number, carrying rectified spirit within Porayar limits. The lorry is said to have been loaded in Bhopal, and has toured through Nagpur, Hyderabad, and Chennai before heading towards Karaikal. The police have arrested the driver Chathur Singh and cleaner Umayat Singh, both residents of Uttarkhand.
According to Mr. Chakravarthy, his team of plainclothesmen was positioned for the seizure following a tip-off. The invoice was fake, with a fake address in Melavanjoor in Karaikal. The worth of the rectified spirit is placed at Rs. 80 lakh and that of the tanker at Rs.15 lakh, making it the highest seizure this year here in the district.
The police are investigating the phone number from which directions were given to the driver on the route to the Karaikal. The modus operandi was that the lorry would be parked in an unsuspected location, where it would change hands with the Karaikal-based buyer. The driver might not have been aware of the destination, Mr. Chakravarthy told The Hindu .
