The Imphal West District Police under the supervision of the Imphal West superintendent of police N Herojit along with the Food Safety & Standards Enforcement Wing, Manipur today seized tobacco products worth around Rs 10 lakhs and expired eatable items.
The tobacco product were seized from three different shops located at Prajatantra Gali, Thangal Bazar, Imphal and the three shops were owned by Ganesh Kumar(25) s/o Hiralal Shah of Bihar presently staying at Tillipati, Anil Kumar Gupta (25) s/o Kapil Manishah of Bihar presently staying at RIMS Road and Guddy Shah (22) s/o Kedar Shah of Bihar presently staying at Tillipati.
The expired eatable items (mostly consumed by kids) were seized from a godown located at Kakhulong Khul, Paona Bazar, Imphal owned by Mukesh Kumar Sah (47) s/o Jokhi Lal Sah of Bihar presently staying at Masjid Road, Paona Bazar.
Speaking to media persons, Imphal West additional SP (law and order) Priyadarshini Laishram said that the state government has already banned selling of tobacco products from the year 2013.
So the team has conducted the raid and was able to seized a huge amount of tobacco items from three different shops, he added.
They has been intensifying such drive mostly tobacco products in view of high prevalence of cancer in the state as uses of tobacco products leads to cancer, said Priyadarshini.
She said that necessary action and case will be taken up against the three shop owners after obtaining the sampling nicotine report of the seized product from the laboratory by the Food Safety department.
She added that keeping of expired product is also an illegal action so they have seized the eatable items from godown and found that most of the seized items are items mostly consumed by the kids.
Priyadarshini said, “It is most likely that the owner kept the items with an ulterior motive such as to convert into a brand new by changing covers or tag.”
So proper action will be taken up against the owner of the godown after finishing the procedure of testing the items by the Food Safety department, she continued.
Source: Imphal Free Press
