The Ramagundam commissionerate police busted an illegal PDS rice transportation gang and detained four of its members. A total of 350 quintals of rice worth Rs 5 lakh, a lorry and a two-wheeler were seized from them.
Producing the accused before the media at Godavarikhani on Monday, Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana explained the modus operandi of the gang which transported rice to Maharashtra illegally.
Based on a reliable information, the Task Force police conducted vehicle checking near Peddakalwala of Peddapalli mandal and intercepted the lorry. Mootam Guruvaiah, Varanasi Ramesh, both residents of Devunipallli, Sultanabad mandal, lorry driver Shyamala Rajiah and cleaner Bhima Bhai of Gujarat were arrested.
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Members of the gang collected rice from people in the villages located around Sultanabad and stored at Gangeddulavari colony, Ryakaldevpalli village of Julapalli mandal. In the wake of the lockdown, the State government supplied free rice to the poor. The beneficiaries sold the rice to the gang at Rs 16 per kg. The gang spends Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 on the rice and sells it at Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 in Maharashtra.
Besides Peddapalli, rice was also purchased from different villages in Warangal district and transported to Maharashtra through Peddapalli, Mancherial, Bellampalli, Kagaznagar, Asifabad, and Wankidi in DCM vans and lorries.
While some of the smugglers were transporting the rice as it is, others converted it into broken rice. The police have a list of rice smugglers from Peddapalli as well as Gondia in Maharashtra, the CP said.
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