Smugglers are gathering rice from various parts of the district and using the bridge to transport it to the neighboring state. In addition to the Sundilla bridge, the Annaram (Sarasvathi) barrage and the Kaleshwaram interstate bridge are also being used for rice smuggling activities.
The Singareni MEMU express operated daily between Bhadrachalam Road and Balharshah of Maharashtra has apparently become a boon for public distribution system (PDS) rice smugglers.
They were identified as Kamalapathi Srinivas, a rice trader from Andhra Pradesh and Makavan Giridhar Bai, who were taking the rice from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka.
On Monday, the Sangareddy police uncovered a PDS recycling operation, seizing a staggering 500 tonnes of PDS rice from a rice mill situated in the Pashamylaram Industrial Area, within the jurisdiction of the BDL Bhanur police station.
A case under Section 6A of The Essential Commodities Act was booked against the shop and the shop was handed over to Ramanujavarapu fair price shop dealer as additional responsibility.