2 tonne iron ball bearings seized

Chennai, Jan 31 (UNI) The Q Branch Police seized two tonne of iron ball bearings from a lorry shed at Periyamet in the city yesterday, police said today.

The police said here the Q Branch team had arrested nine people - eigt here and one at Tuticorin and seized four tonne of iron ball bearings from them recently.

The bearings were purchased at Mumbai and brought to the city by buses for transportation to Tuticorin by lorry from where they would be smuggled to Sri Lanka.

Of the arrested, three of them hailed from Sri Lanka. Four of the accused were taken into police custody and based on their information, raids were conducted on the lorry shed and the consignment seized.

The police said they had several other clues about smuggling of iron ball bearings to Sri Lanka which were suspected to be used for producing explosives.

Meanwhile, the Q Branch arrested two more people --Asghar Ali and Meeran Sahib-- at Mumbai in connection with the case. Efforts were on to bring them here for further interrogation.

UNI