Fake cigarettes valued at Rs 1.48 crore seized at Shamshabad

The arrested persons are Ravikanth Kumar, a transporter from Bihar; Mohd.Shahzad, container truck driver from Haryana; Mubarik Khan, a truck cleaner from Haryana; Syed Iliyasuddin, truck driver and local transporter from Shahalibanda and Rehan Khan, a receiver from Kishanbagh.

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Special Operations Team (Rajendranagar) along with the RGIA police caught four persons on charges of transporting fake cigarettes of various brands, valued at Rs 1.48 crore at Gagan Pahad on the city outskirts on Wednesday.

The arrested persons are Ravikanth Kumar, a transporter from Bihar; Mohd. Shahzad, container truck driver from Haryana; Mubarik Khan, a truck cleaner from Haryana; Syed Iliyasuddin, truck driver and local transporter from Shahalibanda and Rehan Khan, a receiver from Kishanbagh. The absconding person is Subhash, a material supplier from Gaya in Bihar.

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According to the police, the fake cigarettes were concealed in bags claiming to be detergent powder loads and smuggled from Bihar via Patna to Hyderabad in a container truck to be delivered to a company in Musheerabad.

Further investigating revealed that the truck owner had fixed a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system in the vehicle for communication. The RGIA police booked a case and are questioning the suspects on how long they have been in the illegal business. They are also getting details of the receiver of the consignment from Musheerabad.