BIRGUNJ: Parsa police on Tuesday raided gutkha factories and seized gutkha worth more than 6.2 million rupees in Birgunj.

A joint team from Tiger Mobile from Nepal police and DAO representatives had seized gutkha of different brands from various factories. The team seized gutkha worth more than 4.2 million rupees from the godown of Sanjay Agrawal, proprietor of Chawosati Marketing. Likewise, police seized tobacco and gutkha worth Rs 2 million from Shiv Shakti Tobacco Industry in Bypass, Birgunj.

Parsa assistant CDO Anuj Bhandari said they had launched the monitoring campaign to control the production and sale of tobacco and gutkha items that failed to put an image spread over 90 per cent of the product’s cover, stating that tobacco is detrimental to health.

“We seized tobacco and gutkha that violate the laid out standard,” Bhandari said.

The joint team also raided small shops and groceries in Birgunj. Traders and business persons had pulled down their shutters for an hour on Tuesday to protest the raid.

Gopal Kediya, Vice-chairman of Birgunj Chapter of FNCCI, said police did not have any right to raid and inspect VAT bills at business houses without representatives from FNCCI and Revenue Office.