Hyderabad: Spurious seeds worth Rs 5.2 crore seized from Medchal

Officials said following a tip-off, when the premises were raided, they found spurious and substandard and expired seeds being stored in huge quantities.

Hyderabad: In a major seizure, the Hyderabad Task Force raided two warehouses at Noothankal village in Medchal and seized spurious paddy and maize seeds worth Rs 5.2 crore here on Tuesday.

Officials said following a tip-off, when the premises were raided, they found spurious and substandard and expired seeds being stored in huge quantities. They were being sold to unsuspecting farmers.

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The raids were conducted after a complaint came from Vanjarapu Anjaneyulu, who said he was enquiring to purchase paddy seeds for his friend from Medak, when he came to know that one private company, Syngenta, with a warehouse at Noothankal, was selling unauthorised seeds to innocent farmers.

Following the complaint, a police team along with Agriculture officers conducted a search at warehouses of Fortune Agri Seeds and SM Pakala Agri Tech. The raids resulted in the seizure of 13,800 bags of paddy seeds, weighing 834 metric tons, and 125 bags of maize seeds, weighing 5760 kilos.

The seized material was handed over to the Agriculture Department, with the samples being sent for lab tests.