Coimbatore: Approximately 100 tonne of urea smuggled and hoarded without valid documents were seized in Thamanaamparai village near KG Chavadi in Coimbatore district on Saturday. A man from Kerala was arrested and two trucks were also seized.The arrested has been identified as Ashif K Ali, from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, Keralam. He was apprehended after a police team raided a warehouse in Kovaipudur, following a tip-off. Police said the accused failed to provide documentation for the urea hoarded at the warehouse.Police raided a warehouse located on a farm in Kovaipudur, owned by Balakrishnan, a local. “Investigation revealed that Ashif had leased a portion of the farm in September last year on a one-year contract. He smuggled the urea from Karnataka by trucks and hoarded it at the warehouse. He had planned to smuggle it further into Keralam for sale,” said an inspector.The seized urea and the trucks used to smuggle them have been handed over to civil supplies CID police. Further investigation is on to uncover the smuggling network.
