Navi Mumbai: Following the raid into a farmhouse that manufactured cigarettes under the name of ‘Gold flake’, Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Raigad found leads to three more godown in Talegaon, Pune from where they seized more raw material used for making cigarettes worth Rs 40 lakh. LCB seized the material in five trucks from Talegaon.
Meanwhile, they have also found the details of the owner of the farmhouse of Raigad and have sent a notice to him to be present for further investigations.
“The owner is based out of Mumbai and we have not been able to find the rent agreement from the farm house and hence we have asked the owner to be present,” senior police inspector Balasaheb Khade from Raigad LCB, said.
The mastermind of the cigarette manufacturing unit, a Hyderabad based man, is still wanted in the case. According to police, the modus of the accused is to transport the raw material from Hyderabad to Pune first and then from Pune to the farm house in Karjat at Raigad district.
Between Hyderabad to Pune, the accused used at least three different trucks to transport the material so that no transporter is aware of the origin and destination of the raw materials.
“The godown too are located in isolated areas of Talegaon wherein there is no residence nearby. The accused do not keep any worker too for a long period of time and keeps changing the workers. It was a very well organized nexus that was arranged by the accused to procure the raw materials, manufacture them and then distribute in the country,” Khade added.
On Thursday night after inspector Khade received a tip about a bogus factory being operated from a farm house wherein the replica of Gold Flake cigarette was being manufactured. A total of 15 men belonging to various states from the farm house were arrested.
The team had seized cigarettes and machineries worth Rs 5 crore. In order to not get caught due to heavy usage of electricity, the machineries in the farm house were being operated with the help of a generator.
The investigation in the case is still going on. According to police they would be investigating further to find from where the raw material, paper and packaging material is sourced.
