Gutkha products worth ₹2 crore seized from Lonavla

The Pune rural police have detained four people and are on a lookout for three others for producing large quantities of gutkha and other tobacco products in a factory in Lonavla

The Pune rural police have detained four people and are on a lookout for three others for producing large quantities of gutkha and other tobacco products in a factory in Lonavla.

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The total worth of the seized material is estimated to be around ₹2,09,70,000, according to Navneen Kunwat, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Lonavla division.

The factory was running out of a structure in Fangane village in Lonavla, located along the old Pune-Mumbai highway.

“We got information from people in that vicinity that something wrong was happening in a building in that area. We did not know what was happening, so we went there and found these people producing large quantities of something and filling it in drums. We found 118 different types of chemicals. Upon questioning, the people present there revealed that it was gutkha. They produced patents of nine different brands of gutkha when it is illegal to produce gutkha in Maharashtra. So, we are investigating where they acquired the patent from. This product was clearly made illegally,” said SDPO Kunwat.

The men were found preparing gutkha of different varieties and revealed that the drums filled with these products were transported to another facility where it was packaged in different brands’ packets, according to the police.

“We are investigating where they bought this quantity of raw material from and where they sell it,” said SDPO Kunwat.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and National Food Security Act 2013 was registered at Lonavla rural police station against seven people.