11.5 tonnes of Gutkha Mastermind behind smuggling operation held in Avadi

CHENNAI: The Avadi city police have arrested the mastermind behind smuggling over ten tonnes of gutkha from Bengaluru into Tamil Nadu through a goods truck.

The arrested person was identified as P Senthil alias Kanagalingam (38) of Iyyappanthangal.

Police said Senthil was behind the major seizes made in Avadi City Police limits last month, in which police seized 11.5 tons of Gutkha products.

Tirumullaivoyal police seized 150 kg of Gutkha, and Poonamallee police seized 352 kg of the banned oral tobacco products in separate incidents in the third week of August. Meanwhile, Poonamallee police also busted a major haul on August 27.

Poonamallee police had arrested a container truck driver who was ferrying about 10 tonnes of gutka in his vehicle. The market value of the contraband could be more than Rs 1 crore.

Based on a tip-off about the movement of Gutkha, police teams conducted a vehicle check near Thirumazhisai and found several gunny sacks containing gutka in the container truck.

The driver, M Vignesh (27) of Tirupattur, was arrested.

Inquiries with him led to Senthil, the orchestrator of the smuggling. Senthil was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.