3.5 tonne of PDS rice seized from two trains in TN

VELLORE: Around 3.5 tonne of rice meant for Public Distribution System (PDS) was seized from two trains running through Tamil Nadu in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The PDS rice was being smuggled in Tirupati –Chamarajanagar Fast Passenger and Kaveri Express trains to the border districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Acting on a tip-off about smuggling of a large quantity of PDS rice from Tamil Nadu to neighbouring states, district collector S A Raman instructed flying squad tashildar Sathiyamoorthy to check the trains.
Officials split into two teams. While one team went to Arakkonam and boarded in an unreserved compartments at the tail end of the Kaveri Express around 10.45pm on Wednesday, the second team went to Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh and boarded in an unreserved compartment in Chamarajanagar Fast Passenger around 11pm on Wednesday.
“We found several bags hidden beneath the seats and inside the bathrooms in the unreserved compartments. We seized the bags and got down in Katpadi station,” said an official who was in the team that conducted raids in the Kaveri Express.
Similarly, the second team alighted at Katpadi station with the seized rice bags. “We seized a total of 3.5 tonne of PDS rice and sent it to Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation Limited’s godown in Tiruvalam,” he said.