Huge quantity of cannabis seized in Karnataka, 4 arrested

Bangalore: In the ongoing drive against drugs in Karnataka, 1,350 kg of cannabis was seized from a farmhouse in Kalaburagi, over 600 km from this city, police said Thursday. Four people have been arrested in this connection, they informed.

The police said that August 30, they had apprehended a 37-year-old auto-driver Jnana Shekhar who was allegedly selling cannabis here. During interrogation, the auto-driver revealed that he got the consignment from a 22-year-old farmer Siddhunath Lavte of Sindagi Taluk in Vijayapura and the latter was also arrested.

Lavte told police that he had supplied cannabis here in this city and also in Mumbai. Based on the inputs provided by him, police seized 150 kg of cannabis in Kamalapura in Kalaburagi.

While investigating the case, police found that the kingpins of the racket Chandrakanth and Naganath reside in Kalaburagi. The two were arrested September 8.

Interrogation revealed that Chandrakanth had stored 1,350 kg of cannabis in his farmhouse in Kalagi Taluk of Kalaburagi district.

Chandrakanth told police that he used to bring cannabis in packets from Telangana under the pretext of transporting vegetables. Police said there is huge supply of cannabis in Telangana from Odisha.

Drugs valued at around Rs 1 crore and smuggled into India from Belgium were seized Tuesday. The drugs were concealed inside an electric massager, were seized at the international airport here. According to Customs officials, 1,980 grams of MDMA or ecstasy pills were seized.