Police have seized banned gutka worth Rs 56.9 lakh from eight vehicles in Maharashtra's Palghar district and arrested three persons who were allegedly transporting it illegally in the state, an official said on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, the police on Tuesday evening intercepted seven tempos and a truck near Sasoon Navghar at Juchandra on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, Naigaon police station's senior police inspector Ramesh Bhame said. The banned product was being shifted from the truck to tempos for distribution in different locations in Mira Bhayander area and neighbouring Mumbai, he said.
The police seized banned gutka worth Rs 56,90,496 and also the eight vehicles, the official said. On seeing the police, those operating the vehicles and their associates escaped into a nearby forest. The police managed to nab three of them, he said. Offences were registered under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 against the three arrested accused and seven other persons, who are at large, the official said.
The police were probing from where the accused procured the banned goods and to whom they were supposed to deliver them. The sale and consumption of gutka, scented and flavoured tobacco has been banned in Maharashtra since 2012. In 2018, the state government made sale of gutka a non-bailable offence and enhanced the punishment for it from six months to three years.