Chennai: A special team of police carried out raids at a godown in Poonamallee this morning and seized huge quantities of gutkha.
The police arrested five persons involved in running the business which transported the tobacco items to various places in south India.
The police had been watching the activities at the godown located at Steel City Bypass Road, Poonamallee.
Deputy Commissioner of Adyar, Shashank Sai, along with a five-member team cracked down on the place at 6 am today. Over six tonnes of gutkha and Rs 5.37 lakh was seized from the spot, along with five vehicles.
The police arrested a buyer, Senthil (39) from Vellore, who was at the godown.
The four arrested men were identified as Muthulingam (32) from Nazarethpet, Jabastin (19) from Tirunelveli, Kumar (19) and Issac (20) from Tirunelveli.
Shashank Sai said, “We have been working on removing wholesale tobacco dealers instead of cracking down on small dealers.”