KANNIYAKUMARI: A special police team arrested five persons, including a printing press owner and lorry owner, on the charges of printing fake pass and making fake rubber stamps for allegedly transporting minerals in vehicles from Tirunelveli district to Kerala via Kanniyakumari district. The accused were identified as printing press owner S Senthilkumar (24), Akash Kumar (23) 0f Vettumani, Ramesh kumar (44) of Unnamalaikadai, Rajesh (24) of Thirparappu and Vedharaj (50) of Marthandam.
According to police sources, the Kottar police had recently arrested a few persons, and seized two lorries and three cars for allegedly transporting minerals from Tirunelveli to Kerala via Kanniyakumari using fake passes. Following this, Kanniyakumari SP E Sundaravathanam formed special teams to arrest the others involved in the crime. As part of the probe, the team traced another gang of people, and the Thiruvattar police arrested the five individuals on Monday evening.
Sources said that one of the accused, Ramesh Kumar owns lorries, and he along with Senthilkumar and Vedharaj had manufactured the fake pass and rubber stamps of the Tirunelveli District Mines Assistant Director to transport the minerals, while others aided them in the crime. The accused were produced before the Thuckalay court and lodged in prison. Meanwhile, a senior police officer told TNIE that they are on the lookout for one more suspect in connection with the case.