KRISHNAGIRI: The Civil Supplies - CID (CS- CID) West Zone wing has seized 1,736.04 tonnes of smuggled ration rice since January this year, which is more than the 1,072.9 tonnes of rice seized last year in eight districts, CS-CID West Zone Superintendent of Police P Balaji said.
Speaking to TNIE, the SP said, “Eight districts, which include Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Tiruppur, Namakkal, Erode, Nilgiris and Coimbatore, come in the West Zone. Three deputy Superintendents of Police, six inspectors and over 100 other personnel are working in eight districts to prevent smuggling of ration rice to other states.
Apart from the over 1,736 tonnes of PDS rice seized this year, 27 people were booked under Goondas act for smuggling PDS rice this year. Similarly, 575 vehicles were seized in the same case this year.” He further said that a total of 2,231 cases of PDS smuggling, including rice and kerosene, were reported from the eight districts this year against the 1,798 cases reported in 2021.
“In Krishnagiri district, over 475 tonnes of PDS rice were seized, which is the highest in the zone. As Krishnagiri shares border with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, many people are trying to smuggle ration rice from Tirupattur, Thiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri and other areas via Veppanahalli and Hosur,” deputy SP D Vijayakumar said. Two special patrol teams are stationed in Krishnagiri and Pollachi (Coimbatore) to control smuggling, he said.