Puttur : The Puttur Town Police on Monday arrested two persons on the charge of making an attempt to sell in the open market rice distributed to ration card holders under the public distribution system. The police seized 922 kg of rice worth ₹ 2 lakh from them.

The police gave the names of the accused as Kalandar (31) and Zakaria (40).

A police team, led by Sub-Inspector of Police Jamburaj Mahajan, stopped their lorry at Polya village on Mani-Mysuru Road. The accused did not have documents for transportation of bags of rice found in the lorry.

Food Inspector Saraswati, who visited the spot, upon inspection, found that the rice belonged to the public distribution system.

The police said that the accused had purchased the rice from ration card holders. They had repackaged it in different bags and were attempting to sell it in the open market in Mangaluru.

On a complaint by Ms. Saraswati, the police booked the accused for offences punishable under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.