Sonepur: In a dramatic attempt to destroy evidence and escape, a driver transporting a huge consignment of ganja set the vehicle on fire after its tyre burst in Sonepur district Saturday morning.
Police said the white car, suspected to be part of an interstate smuggling network, was carrying over 2.5 quintals of cannabis worth more than Rs 2.5 crore.
The car was moving from Boudh district and crossed Binika town around 6 am when its front tyre burst near Nuabazar.
Eyewitnesses reported that the driver quickly removed the number plate, poured petrol on the vehicle, and set it ablaze before fleeing in an escort car trailing behind.
Another escort vehicle was moving ahead of the consignment, sources added.
Firefighters from Binika rushed to the spot and doused the flames.
Binika police later seized the half-burnt vehicle and the contraband.
The weighing was carried out in the presence of a magistrate.
Officials suspect the driver torched the car under the direction of traffickers to prevent the contraband from being seized if caught during inspection.
Sonepur police said the ganja consignment was being smuggled out of Odisha along a corridor connecting Boudh and Kandhamal to neighbouring states, including Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
The seizure comes as Odisha Police and the Excise department are conducting Operation Prahar from September 1 to 15 to curb cannabis cultivation and smuggling.
Despite intensified raids, traffickers are increasingly resorting to novel methods, including using ambulances, onion and potato trucks, cement sacks and luxury cars to ferry contraband.
PNN
