Gujarat: Illegal duplicate tobacco unit busted; two brothers held with stock worth Rs 1.72 lakh

Rajkot, Aug 29 (AHN) The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajkot City Police, Gujarat, has detected an alleged illegal unit manufacturing and storing duplicate tobacco at a godown on Kuwadva Road and detained two brothers in connection with the operation, police said on Saturday.

Acting on confidential information on August 27, the SOG team raided a godown named “Hiren Perfumery Works” at Chauhan Wadi, Street No. 11, Lati Plot, and found Hiren Soneji, 51, and his brother Raju Soneji, 49, allegedly manufacturing duplicate tobacco without supporting documents or a food-related licence.

The police said the two were manufacturing the tobacco for sale to different retailers in Rajkot.

The raid resulted in the seizure of tobacco packets, empty containers and packaging material, raw materials, chemicals and machinery used in the alleged manufacturing and packing process.

Among the seized items were 54 gold-coloured 500-gram tobacco packets valued at Rs 10,800, 57 black-coloured 500-gram packets valued at Rs 11,400, 10 silver-coloured 200-gram packets worth Rs 2,000 and 22 silver-coloured 500-gram packets worth Rs 4,400.

The SOG also seized a blue barrel containing 40.5 kg of tobacco, valued at Rs 16,200, and another barrel containing around 150 litres of light liquid paraffin oil, valued at Rs 22,500. Seven aluminium cans containing around 26 kg of different perfumed liquid substances valued at Rs 39,000 were also seized.

The seized equipment included a grinder, an electric motor-operated mixer used for mixing tobacco and chemicals, a machine for packing tobacco and mouth freshener into small containers, and two electric machines used for packing plastic bags.

Police also recovered hundreds of empty containers and packaging materials, including boxes and bags bearing names such as “Himson Hiramoti”, “Sugam Tobacco 1030” and “Hiren Perfumery Works”.

The seizure further included 288 small plastic bottles marked “Hiren P-Jan Flavour”, a digital weighing scale, four kilograms of loose tobacco, two mobile phones and a bill book containing entries from April 18 to August 21, 2026.

"The total value of the seized property was assessed at Rs 1,72,770," the police said.

The operation was carried out under the supervision of SOG Police Inspector N.B. Chaudhary, with ASIs Arunbhai Bambhaniya, Siddhraj Singh Jadeja and Rajeshbhai Bala, along with other SOG personnel.

Preliminary examination and opinion were provided by FSL officer Sameer Joshi and Food Safety Officer K.J. Sarvaiya of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation's health department.

Further legal action is being taken in connection with the illegal manufacture and sale of duplicate tobacco.