HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police seized around 165 quintals of PDS rice being smuggled into black markets. Three persons, Mohd Qadir, Mohd Sami and Mohd Qadir who had purchased the rice from beneficiaries were also arrested. The kingpin of the racket, Mohammed Dawood, and his associates are absconding.
Dawood was earlier arrested in four cases, which include a murder, two thefts and one PDS rice smuggling case. He also has an active rowdy sheet at Musheerabad police station.
Inquiries revealed that he was procuring and selling PDS rice in Musheerabad area. He also formed a gang with his associates in other areas. PDC rice procured from across the city, is stored at a godown near Alwal. Here, the rice is packed into bags and transported to other states, where it is sold at higher prices.
Acting on a tip-off, Task force sleuths along with civil supply officials conducted raids Begumpet, Musheerabad and Alwal Police Stations and seized PDC rice worth `5 lakh from the three arrested accused.
370 quintals of PDS rice seized at Warangal, three held
The Inthezargunj and task force police arrested three persons and seized around 370 quintals of PDS rice worth `8 lakh during a raid at NTR Nagar in Warangal city on Tuesday. Two vehicles that were used to transport the rice illegally were also seized.The arrested persons have been identified as M Hussain from Hanamkonda, Ch Rajesh from Duggondi mandal and lorry driver Aamir Mori from Gujarat. Five other accused who were at the spot escaped. According to task force ACP Prathap Kumar, the accused were procuring the PDS rice from beneficiaries of surrounding villages. They had planned to take the rice to Gujurat and Maharashtra.