HYDERABAD: Police on Tuesday sealed a paper factory in the Kotri’s SITE area where gutka was being prepared.

Machinery there was also confiscated and three watchmen were reportedly arrested by police, said sources.

SHO SITE police station Khair Mohammad Mallah raided the factory namely Al Amir Paper Mills. Police also confiscated mixing machinery, around 10,000 gutka packets, 500 bags containing raw material and around 15 packing machines.

Hyderabad range police DIG Pir Mohammad Shah and Jamshoro SSP Imran Qureshi also arrived at the factory. They told local journalists that it was Hyderabad division’s biggest action against those involved in gutka manufacturing. The seized goods are worth millions of rupees, according to the police officers.

It was being supplied to different cities of Hyderabad, Karachi and other districts of Sindh. They said the factory remained closed during the night.

According to factory owner Saleem Akhtar Siddiqui, he rented out the factory to one Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui on Sept 28, 2022, and that had been communicated to Jamshoro police and SHO of the SITE police station in writing by him.

He said there was no electric supply or gas in the factory for which applications had been submitted as well.

Kotri police have not lodged a formal FIR yet as it was busy in assessing the actual worth of the seized goods.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2023