Sonepur: Around 84 kilograms of dry cannabis (ganja) was seized and two persons were arrested in that connection during a joint operation carried out by the Excise department sleuths, in coordination with the Sonepur Range, district mobile unit, and Sadar police near the Tarbha Namaste Gate in Subarnapur district Sunday.
Acting on specific inputs, the sleuths intercepted a truck (registration number UP-84-AT-8233) travelling from Kantamal in Boudh district near Tarbha Namaste Gate.
During searches, the sleuths discovered a secret compartment, in the otherwise empty vehicle, containing four packets of cannabis. The contraband weighed 84 kg. The arrested individuals have been identified as the truck driver, Pradeep Verma, 64, from Bahadurpur police limits in Patna of Bihar, and a cannabis trader, Vinod Kumar, 50, from Chilkapand area under Shaktinagar police limits in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
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Preliminary investigations suggest that the accused were smuggling cannabis from Boudh district, crossing the Tel River Bridge, and transporting it via the Tarbha route to Bihar. To evade law enforcement, the smugglers had made a concealed chamber inside the truck for transporting the contraband.
A case (No. 215/24-25) has been registered by the Sadar Excise Police, and both the truck and cannabis have been confi scated. The accused are likely to be produced before an NDPS court Monday. The raid was carried out under the direction of Excise Superintendent Prabir Kumar Samal.
The team included Mobile Inspector Hara Prasad Rana, Sonepur Range Inspector Prakash Sa, Sub-Inspectors Shantanu Pattnayak and Bishwanath Bhoi, ASIs Santosh Kumar Swain, Lokanath Behera, and Renupriya Bhoi.
PNN
