Bihar: Ganja worth Rs 1.2 crore seized from oil tanker in Begusarai

PATNA: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) intercepted a petroleum oil tanker at Bachhawara in Begusarai on Saturday and recovered more than 1.2 tonnes of ganja, worth around Rs 1.2 crore in the domestic market. The consignment was hidden inside the storage compartment.
Tanker driver Rajkumar Yadav and co-driver Kallu Sahni were arrested. Yadav belongs to Jagdishpur under Raghopur police station area in Vaishali and Sahni hails from Karmalichak Devisthan under Bypass police station area in Patna.
NCB authorities in Lucknow had received input about the consignment and shared it with their Patna counterparts.
NCB suspects a big smuggling racket as they had procured a private oil tanker plying for a government oil firm. The tanker has a GPS device to monitor its movement.
This is the second major seizure by NCB in the state in the last 36 hours. Earlier, it seized 710 grams of brown sugar and arrested three drug smugglers in Patna on Friday. Two pistols and four live cartridges were recovered from their possession.
NCB zonal director (Bihar-Jharkhand) Kumar Manish said the ganja consignment was loaded in Tripura. It was to be unloaded in the riverine belt between Patna and Vaishali.
“The driver had a new cellphone with a fresh sim card with very specific and limited information for transporting the contraband. Hardly four to five calls were made on it. He was promised a hefty amount after consignment delivery,” Manish said, adding further investigation is on to trace the suppliers and receivers.
“To avoid suspicion, he was directed to reach Begusarai first via Barauni where an oil refinery is there. He was to be given further direction. Incidentally, when the NCB intercepted the tanker, the driver was talking to one of the drug smugglers. The vehicle movement was probably tracked by drug smugglers via the GPS device. Such devices are generally fitted in all oil and gas tankers,” he said.
Manish said the ganja packets were inserted inside the tank using hatches meant for filling petroleum oil.
“During interrogation, the driver said it was for the first time that he was involved in drug smuggling. He also said the vehicle owner did not know about ganja smuggling,” he said.
The director also said the tanker was bearing Assam’s registration number but it was taken to Tripura for picking up the consignment. “It needs to be ascertained if the registration number is fake or original,” he said.
Manish said around six tonne ganja was seized last year in Bihar and Jharkhand together while 4.5 tonne ganja has been seized in Bihar alone in the last six months.