Huge haul of spirit, 5-member gang held

TIRUPUR: The Prohibition and Enforcement Wing (PEW) personnel seized 13,125 litres of spirit worth Rs 13 lakh from a farm house near Avinashi on Friday and arrested a five-member gang, involved in the smuggling of spirit to Kerala.Following a tip-off, the PEW of Gobi conducted a surprise check at Vellapari Thottam in Nariyampalli village near Avinashi on Friday along with Avinashi police. During the raid, the team found a five-member gang loading the spirit filled cans in a car. All the five, including Selvaraj (60), owner of the farm, his son Jayakumar (30), Janarthanan (44), Tibu (19) and Aji (39), all from Ernakulam, Kerala, were arrested. Police also seized 375 cans containing 35 litres of spirit, which were hoarded in the godown.According to police the total value of the seized spirit was about Rs 13 lakh. A car and two motorbikes were also seized from the gang. Janarthanan was running a bakery at Annur in Coimbatore district and co-ordinated the smuggling the spirit to Kerala.  They ferried the spirit through tanker lorries from Haryana and used to smuggle it by car to Kerala.