E-Paper
FDA seizes banned tobacco products worth ₹5.19lakh in Pune
According to the FDA officials, a team led by Suresh Deshmukh, food commissioner, received a tip-off that two people were travelling in a car with banned tobacco products.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pune, along with the Warje police seized banned tobacco products worth ₹5.19 lakh from a car near Warje on the Pune-Mumbai highway, on Tuesday.
The accused duo has been identified as Mukesh Solanki, who was driving the car and Gautam Parihar.
According to the FDA officials, a team led by Suresh Deshmukh, food commissioner, received a tip-off that two people were travelling in a car with banned tobacco products.
Deshmukh said, “Based on the suspicious movement of the accused duo, we stopped the vehicle and searched it. We found banned tobacco products worth ₹5.19 lakh.”
“We have handed them over to the police for further investigation,” added Deshmukh.
The Maharashtra government had implemented a ban on tobacco products on July 19, 2012, and extends the ban every year. Initially, it had banned only gutkha, but from July 2013, scented tobacco and other products have also been banned.
FDA officials said gutkha pouches enter the district from Karnataka. The border between the two states is porous. The officials suspect a chain of people behind the smuggling of banned tobacco products.
