2 more held for duping freight forwarding firms of Rs 5 crore

CHENNAI: Central Crime Branch of the city police arrested two persons for allegedly cheating freight forwarding companies of at least Rs 5 crore by promising them to rent shipping containers at subsidised rates.

The accused had created a bogus company in the name of Teamup Cargo Pvt Ltd and had approached freight forwarding companies in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. They then approached container renting companies and hired their containers with a promise of paying the rent within 30 days and defaulted, all the while collecting payments from freight forwarding companies.

A company operating from SIDCO industrial estate approached the city police stating that the accused firm had cheated them of Rs 5 crore after which investigations commenced.

The entrustment document fraud (EDF) wing of the city police arrested several persons, including S Samuel Titus, 45, his associates R Suresh Kumar, 25, Daniel, 24, and C Vinod Kumar alias Vetrimaran, 34, who hail from Thoothukudi, Ponraj, Praveen, Prem Kumar, Gokulnath, and Patrick.

Of these, Ponraj, Samuel Titus, Gokulnath, and David were detained under the Goondas Act, police said.

Meanwhile, two persons who evaded arrest were picked up by a police team on Thursday after it was learnt that they were hiding in Tiruporur. The arrested persons, G Pon Raghu, 29, and S Arul Balan, 41, were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Police also seized a Mercedes Benz car and other items from the arested duo.