Surat/Bhubaneswar: Special Operations Group (SOG) of Surat City Police has arrested two men from Odisha and seized 20 kilograms of ganja valued at Rs 10 lakh during a raid at a residential premises in the Ved Road area of Gujarat’s Surat as part of an ongoing drive against narcotics trafficking in the city, officials said Wednesday.
Acting on specific intelligence, an SOG team raided Room No. 2 on the second floor of House No. 48 in Meena Nagar Co-operative Housing Society, opposite Akhand Anand College in the Chok Bazar area.
The police arrested Kalucharan Mahanti, 31, and Jitu Pradhan, 21, both employed as zari workers and originally from Ganjam district of Odisha.
Police said they recovered 20kg of prohibited plant-based ganja worth Rs 10 lakh from the premises.
Two mobile phones valued at Rs 25,000 were also seized, taking the total value of the confiscated property to Rs 10.25 lakh.
According to Surat Police, the operation was carried out under the directions of Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot as part of the city’s “No Drugs in Surat City” campaign, which targets the illegal movement of narcotics into Surat from other states and aims to curb drug distribution among young people.
During questioning, the accused allegedly told investigators that they had obtained the ganja from a wanted suspect and were on their way to deliver the consignment to another wanted accused when they were intercepted by the SOG team.
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A case has been registered at Chok Bazar Police Station under Sections 8(c), 20(b)(ii)(C) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Police said further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend the absconding members of the alleged supply network.
The seizure is the second significant ganja haul reported in Surat within two days. In a separate operation in the Mahidharpura area, police seized more than 20 kg of ganja from another accused who was allegedly transporting the contraband for delivery, taking the total quantity recovered in the two operations to over 40 kg.
The latest action also follows other recent anti-narcotics operations in Gujarat, including the seizure of 12 kg of hybrid ganja by Ahmedabad’s Vatva police and an SOG operation in Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district in which hybrid ganja was recovered, and two suspects were arrested, highlighting continued enforcement efforts against drug trafficking across the state.
IANS
