Three men were held at the Anaikatti check post on Monday night while they were trying to smuggle ration rice to Kerala. Based on a tip-off, the flying squad of the supplies and consumer protection, food cell police and forest department, intersected vehicles passing through the check post in a joint operation.

At about 10 pm, they stopped a vehicle with Kerala registration on it and checked it. They found about 500 kg of ration rice in small bags. Anand Kumar, 31, of Palakkad, Prakash, 25, of Annur in Coimbatore, and Ramesh, 28, of Pollachi, were subsequently held.

Police officials said that the accused had purchased the rice in small quantities from several card holders and were planning to sell them in Kerala.