The city police on Wednesday seized lottery tickets worth over Rs.5.6 crore from a private parcel office at the Chintadripet MRTS station complex.
A man has been arrested in connection with the case. Police sources said the man is also accused in the case in which two pistols and magazines were sent by parcel to Arupukottai.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Shakeel Akther told media persons on Thursday that A.Gopi (44) of Ayyappan Mudali Street in Seven Wells had received the parcel containing the weapons from two persons in Kolkata. Well aware of its contents, he sent it through the private parcel service and gave his name as Suresh. Following suspicion, employees of the parcel service informed the police who arrested two men when they came to receive the parcel in Arupukottai, he said.
Besides Manikandan and Selvaraj, the Virdhunagar police also arrested Kumar who sent the duo to receive the parcel.
On getting information on Wednesday, the police team went to the parcel office in Chinthadripet and found 43 bags of lottery tickets which were booked to be sent to different parts of Tamil Nadu. Police said Gopi who acted as a sub-agent in the transactions was later arrested from north Chennai.
“We suspect the involvement of a big network. We will be sending police teams to Kolkata to find more leads into the case,” Mr.Akther said. He added that private parcel firms would be closely monitored. “We are planning to convene a meeting of representatives of the parcel services and discuss introduction of certain guidelines as part of security measures,” he added.
