Two persons were arrested on Wednesday for smuggling 950 kg of rice meant for Public Distribution System (PDS). A car was also confiscated during the process.
Inspector of Vellore unit of Food Cell-CID, D Ashokan, and his team conducted a vehicle check at Sainagunda during the early hours of Wednesday.
The team stopped a car heading towards Andhra Pradesh and conducted a check. They found 19 bags of PDS rice, weighing 950 kgs, in the vehicle.
The police arrested the owner of the car, Payash (43) and the car driver Muneer (40) of Gudiyattam for smuggling the rice. On interrogation, Payash told police that he had purchased the rice for `5 per kg from the cardholders and was smuggling it to AP. He had been selling the smuggled rice to brokers in the neighbouring State, for a price of `13 to `15 per kg.
The police registered a case against the duo under section 6 (4) of Tamil Nadu Scheduled Commodities (Regulation of Distribution by Card System) Order 1982 read with section 7 (1) (a) (ii) of Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
The duo has been remanded to the Vellore Central Prison here.
The seized rice has been sent to the godown of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies at Thorapadi.