In an operation carried out by the food safety department in Assam’s Karimganj, a massive fraud was unearthed, reports emerged on Tuesday.

According to the reports, as many as 200 bags of rice were seized by the officials during the raid.

Speaking about the operation, officials informed that the rice bags had been stashed with the plan to smuggle them out of Assam to other states.

Meanwhile, officials said that a local businessman named Najim Uddin has been associated with hoarding the rice bags and keeping them at his warehouse.

The seized rice bags were weighed to be around 10,000 kilograms, they said.

According to officials, the accused changed the packaging of the rice bags that came from the state government’s food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, and smuggled them out of Assam.

Earlier on June 30, an alleged scam was unearthed in the public distribution system (PDS) of rice for the weaker sections in Dhekiajuli area in Assam’s Sonitpur district.

In this regard, seven persons were taken under the custody of the Chief Minister’s Vigilance Cell for interrogation, sources said. The detained persons included five fair price shop owners and two employees of a cooperative society.

As per reports, allegations were levelled against the seven persons for illegally selling rice that was meant for beneficiaries.

The persons involved in the scam were detained after a team of the CM’s Vigilance cell reached Dhekiajuli earlier that day.

The persons that were detained were Surajit Senapati, Anirudh Pal, Bhaskarjyoti Kar, Khubir Tati, Subrat Bonik, Mridul Taran and Ashok Ghosh.