Bhubaneswar: A Special NDPS Court here sentenced two drug traffickers to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each, an official said Friday.
Mangal Ram Mahato and Kumar Dili, both residents of Dhanbad, were convicted by the court of the 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar, according to an official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bhubaneswar Zonal Unit.
The convicts were sentenced under Sections 20(b), 25 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The case dates to May 28, 2023, when NCB officers apprehended the two accused with 273.8 kg of ganja at Rasulgarh Chowk in Bhubaneswar, an official statement said.
Subsequent investigation revealed their alleged involvement in an interstate smuggling racket. The ganja was concealed in a specially made cavity in the driver’s cabin of a truck, the statement said.
Both accused were charge-sheeted in November 2023. The truck used to transport the contraband was also seized.
Meanwhile, the NCB Thursday said it secured the conviction of two drug traffickers in a 2023 Alprazolam trafficking case in Ahmedabad.
A Special NDPS Court in Ahmedabad city sentenced Govind Suryavanshi Chamar, a resident of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, and Shaikh Mohammad Idrish, a resident of Ahmedabad, to nine years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.
The case pertains to the seizure of 91 grams of Alprazolam at Kalupur Railway Station in Ahmedabad in May 2023, leading to the arrest of the two traffickers.
The convictions underscore the NCB’s efforts to dismantle organised drug trafficking networks operating across state boundaries. The bureau urged citizens to share information related to narcotics sales through the MANAS National Narcotics Helpline at 1933, assuring confidentiality of informers.