Moazzam Jahi Market: Cops seize artificially ripened mangoes worth Rs 3 lakhs

Hyderabad: The Commissioner’s Taskforce, South West Zone Team, along with Sultan Bazar police arrested two persons and seized mangoes that had been artificially ripened using illegal methods. This was revealed in their raid on two shops named New Liberty Fruit Shop and Lucky Fruit Shop at Moazzam Jahi Market, opposite Clock Tower.

The arrested have been identified as Irfan Khan and Mohd Hussain. Mangoes worth Rs 3 lakhs were seized from their possession.

The police officials seized 18 trays of mangoes along with five packets of FYK ethylene ripener from New Liberty and eight trays of mangoes along with FYK sachets from Lucky Fruit Shop.

Case details

According to police data, the accused are fruit vendors. They supply fruits for different occasions. Due to the heavy demand for fruits, in light of the ongoing holy month of Ramzan and marriage season, the fruit vendors used artificial ripeners like ethylene to make unripe fruits, especially mangoes, saleable in the market.

Breaching the FSSAI guidelines, these vendors were using illegal methods of storage and ripening of mangoes which are dangerous to humans causing serious effects on public health like respiratory and skin ailments. When used in excessive quantities, as in the current case of fruit vendors, these ripeners can cause health problems and other ailments.

The police said that the accused were intentionally using harmful chemical substances illegally for their gain by cheating the innocent public and violating FSSAI guidelines. A case has been registered and an investigation is on.