Prohibited cotton seeds racket busted;  seeds seized

Medchal Special Operations Team (SOT) team, Shamirpet Police, along with the officials of Agricultural department conducted a joint operation on Monday and arrested two persons for transporting prohibited cotton seeds at Shameerpet.
Police have seized 1.2 tons of prohibited (BG-III/HT) cotton seeds worth Rs 35 lakh and 1,560 kgs of onion bags to conceal the cotton seeds.  Along with the seeds, police seized a vehicle and two cell phones. The seeds were banned by the Telangana government.
Gaddam Srikanth and Goshika Naveen Kumar were arrested. Other three accused are absconding, who are Shivaiah, Pindi Suresh, and an unknown person.
The arrests were made under the guidance of Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty, under the supervision of DCP, SOT, Cyberabad, D Srinivas, ADCP Shoban Kumar and Medchal SOT Inspector R Shyamsunder Reddy.
CP Avinash Mohanty appealed to the farmers not to purchase lose seeds from anyone. “Do not cultivate the BG III/HT cotton, which is causing damage to the environment,” he said and requested the people that if any prohibited seeds are sold, call 100 or WhatsApp number 9490617444.N