MADURAI: When food safety department officials broke open a house, they had sealed earlier, in SS Colony on Monday, they found 45 out of 59 boxes of tobacco products missing. How did someone gain entry into a sealed house and steal the products?
Police said the officials had conducted a search at a house in Bharathiar 3rd Street in SS Colony August 22, 2020 based on a tip off. When they entered the house, they found 59 boxes of banned tobacco products there. The officials later sent the samples for laboratory analysis.
After receiving confirmation that the products were banned tobacco products, the department submitted a charge sheet. The case is pending in district court. The products weighing 1080 kg were kept inside house and sealed by officials.
Sometime later, the house owner lodged a petition seeking permission to use his house and the court directed the department to hand over the house to him. Acting on the order, when the authorities opened the house on Monday they found 45 boxes of tobacco products missing.
The officials suspect that the thieves must have entered the house by removing the window at the back side of the building. Based on the complaint of the food safety officer S Rajkumar a case was registered. The lost property worth is estimated to be worth Rs 1.98 lakh.