Three youth were detained under the Goondas Act on Sunday for smuggling over six tonnes of rice meant for Public Distribution System (PDS).
The police personnel, attached to the Civil Supplies-CID, Vellore unit, served the detention orders to Murali (19) of Mottur near Abdullapuram, his brother-in-law Arivazhagan (28) and their neighbour Sarath Kumar (20), who were remanded in the Vellore Central Prison.
The trio was arrested for smuggling 6,250 kg of PDS rice from Chennai to Pallamaneri in Andhra Pradesh, on March 6.
The team, led by Inspector of the wing D Ashokan, acting on a tip-off, had conducted a vehicle check near the toll plaza at Walajapet. The team caught the trio after intercepting a lorry bearing the registration number TN 23 BE 2554 during the early hours of Thursday.
The police had seized 135 bags of PDS rice from the mini-lorry and confiscated the vehicle.
The police officials had registered a case against them under the provision of the Tamil Nadu Scheduled Commodities (Regulation of Distribution by Card System) Order 1982 read with 7 (1-a) of Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
Inspector Ashokan said Murali and his entire family had been involved in this illegal activity for a long time. Murali’s father Dhanapaul was detained under Goondas Act a year ago, for smuggling PDs rice to the neighbouring State. Similarly, his elder brother Suresh had also indulged in this illegal activity.
“The vehicles used for transporting the smuggled PDS rice have been registered in Murali’s mother name Geetha,” said the police officer.