Coimbatore:
About 750 kg of banned tobacco products lying unclaimed in a coach of Chennai-Mangalore Express was seized by railway police at the station in Coimbatore today.
Acting on a tip off, a search was carried out in the coaches of the train and some gunny bags were found stashed under the seats and near the toilet in a compartment. On opening them, huge quantities of banned tobacco products like pan masala were found, the Railways said.
Railway police quoted passengers as having told them that some bags were offloaded at Tirupur and suspect that the consignment was meant for delivery at various stations between Coimbatore and Mangalore.
The exact value of the seized tobacco products was yet to be ascertained, they said.
The Tamil Nadu government had on May 8 banned production, possession, distribution and sale of tobacco products such as pan masala and gutka in the state.