18 quintals of PDS rice seized in Srinagar, four held: Police

Srinagar: Police has seized a load carrier carrying 18 quintals of rice meant for public distribution system (PDS) and arrested four people.
SDPO Hazratbal Rameez Rashid Bhat said that on February 1 (Thursday), a routine naka was laid by police near SKIMS chowk Soura.
“During a checking, a load carrier bearing registration No JK01S-5376 was intercepted and it was found loaded with six sealed gunny bags of PDS Rice,” he said.
“The load carrier was being driven by one person namely Tanveer Ahmad Beigh S/o Firdous Ahmad Beigh R/o Shah Mohalla Ahmednagar and another person namely Mohammad Ashraf Shah @ Aashiq Shah S/O Mohammad Subhan Shah R/O Bewara Danmar Sangam Srinagar was boarding the vehicle. The duo was arrested and the vehicle seized on spot,” said an official.
He said that the police has filed a case FIR No. 15/2018 U/s 409, 411,120-B RPC in police station Soura.
During the course of investigation, he said that the arrested persons disclosed that they had illegally bought the rice from a government store keeper Mohammad Haneef Dar R/O Awantabhawan A/P Ellahibagh Soura who runs the PDS store at Ellahibagh Soura.
“The store keeper was accordingly arrested and during questioning he disclosed that he illegally sells the PDS Rice which is meant for public distribution to one person namely Bashir Ahmad Wani S/o Ghulam Ahmad Wani R/o Narwara Eidgah.
During further investigation, 30 bags of PDS Rice which he had repackaged illegally into duplicate ‘Apple Brand’ rice bags, one sewing machine, weighing machine and sewing thread were also recovered from the spot and accused person was arrested.
The further investigation of the case is going on, they added.