Officials from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Coimbatore have seized banned tobacco products weighing nearly 120 kg from a private bus here on Friday.
B Vijayalalithambigai, Designated Officer, FSSAI, Coimbatore led the team of five food safety officers, who conducted the raid in the bus at around 3 a.m. The bus, which was reportedly plying between Bengaluru and Coimbatore, was confiscated by the officials after seizing the banned items.
Food safety officials said that they have been investigating for the last few days whether such banned tobacco items were being transported into Tamil Nadu from other States through buses. They added that the same bus was caught last December when it was carrying gutka
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The district administration will confiscate any vehicle that sells, possesses, transport or manufacture banned tobacco products, the food safety officials said.
The Tamil Nadu government banned the manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco such as gutka and pan masala in 2013.