Chennai: Police seized huge quantities of foreign cigarettes and cash from a house at Triplicane, last night.
Acting on a tip-off, police carried out a raid at a house behind Periya Mosque, and found 729 packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes worth Rs 7.29 lakh and Rs 57,000 in cash.
One person identified as Jawahar Ali (31), a resident of Amman Kovil Street, Devipattinam, Ramnathpuram was arrested from the spot.
However, the owner of the smuggled consignment Sayyed Abudaheer (34), of Seventh Street, Ashok Nagar is found missing.
Police said, Sayyed smuggled the cigarettes from several places including Singapore and Malaysia. He intended to sell them in the black market.
Six months ago, the tenants vacated the house and Sayyed began using it as godown to stack the cigarette boxes. The neighbours got the smell of tobacco and alerted the police.
Jawahar told police that he had joined as a worker only on Monday and he did not know it was an illegal business.
Police arrested him and registered a case under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.