Rabale police seize tempo transporting gutka worth ₹51 lakh; driver held

In the wee hours of Saturday during patrolling, a team of Rabale MIDC police found a suspicious tempo that was being escorted by a Wagon-R car with four occupants, police said

Navi Mumbai’s Rabale Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) police have arrested a tempo driver and seized banned gutkha worth ₹51 lakh, officials said.

According to the police, the banned product was being transported in the disguise of transporting garlic (Representative Image)

According to the police, the banned product was being transported in the disguise of transporting garlic to Khopoli in Maharashtra.

In the wee hours of Saturday during patrolling, a team of Rabale MIDC police found a suspicious tempo that was being escorted by a Wagon-R car with four occupants, police said.

According to the police, when they asked the tempo driver to stop, the men in the car fled, raising suspicion and upon checking, they discovered sacks containing gutkha being transported labelled as garlic.

“The tempo we intercepted was at the service road in front of success lodge in Mahape MIDC. The pan masala gutkha was hidden in the sacks under the garlic,” senior police inspector Sudhir Patil from Rabale MIDC police station said.

Further investigations revealed that the stock was supplied by a person identified as Shaukat from Vadodra in Gujarat, deputy commissioner of police, Zone I, Vivek Pansare said. “The tempo had a Gujarat licence plate and a man from Gujarat. The car was escorting the tempo to find a safe passage to Khopoli,” he added.

“We are now looking for the main supplier from Gujarat and the four men escorting the tempo in the car including the Khopoli man who was to receive the consignment,” Pansare added.

Meanwhile, the arrested tempo driver, identified as Sagar Kamlesh Gohel, 31, was remanded in police custody till December 15 after being produced in the court.

Gohel and other wanted accused persons were booked under the Food and Safety Act (FDA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. Further investigation is on, police said.