Koraput: The Jeypore sub-divisional police have seized 1,000 kg ganja worth Rs 2 crore in the last three days from Jeypore town’s Sadar, Boipariguda and Boriguma police limits.
The police also arrested 12 persons including a woman for smuggling the ganja after intercepting several vehicles.
The arrested smugglers are Sachin Kumar, (25), Tinku Kumar, (20) and Moorat Dhaj Shukla, (19) who were nabbed from the vehicle RJ 11GA 7354 (10-wheeled truck). Prakash Nai, (20) from MP, Rakesh Kumar Barman, (24), from Chhattisgarh and Raju Biswakarma, (21) were arrested from the vehicle CG 16 CE 5466.
Bhajanan Sahu, (24), of Angul and Rama Khemudu, (20), of Malkangiri were arrested from the vehicle OR 19 B 7374. Bisnu Sahu, (27), from Jeypore, Anuj Gautam, (27), Harishankar Debanyan, (19), and Chandini Namili, (25), from Madhya Pradesh were nabbed from a car without number plate.
SDPO Sagarika Nath said they got a tip-off about the consignment, and a team of the Special Task Force intercepted the vehicles.
“The truck was disguised to give the impression that it was transporting rice. The ganja was packed in polythene bags,” said Jeypore SDPO Sagarika Nath.
Nath added that the consignment was loaded from interior areas on the border of Koraput and Malkangiri districts, and was intended to be delivered to a trader in Uttar Pradesh via Chhattisgarh.
The police said a well-knit inter-state racket was operating in the area. It procures ganja from the interior areas of Koraput and Malkangiri districts, where it is cultivated, and transports it to New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
The Koraput police had launched a drive against the ganja trade in the district and had arrested 50 people. They have seized around 90 quintals of ganja and 21 vehicles in the last six months.
Sagarika Nath said, “We have a zero tolerance policy towards ganja.” As there are elections next month there is round the clock checking on the NH, he added.
PNN
