1,005 kg ganja worth ₹2 crore seized

Two government employees from Odisha and Chhattisgarh involved

July 21, 2021 08:09 pm | Updated 08:09 pm IST - BHADRADRI-KOTHAGUDEM

In yet another big seizure of ganja, the Bhadrachalam town police have seized a huge consignment of 1,005 kg ganja worth about ₹2 crore from a Madhya Pradesh-bound lorry in the temple town late on Tuesday afternoon.

Increased vigil at the border points resulted in seizure of 6,000 kg ganja worth ₹12 crore in the district so far this year. Illegal consignments of ganja worth ₹32 crore were seized by the district police in separate cases in the last four years.

Two government employees belonging to Odisha and Chhattisgarh were allegedly found to be involved in aiding and abetting the smuggling from Agency areas in the border States to various big cities using Bhadradri-Kothagudem district as a transit point, police said.

Addressing a press conference in Bhadrachalam on Wednesday, Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt said a police team found a large consignment of 1,005 kgs of dry ganja in a lorry during a vehicle checking drive at the check post near the bridge centre on Tuesday afternoon.

The crew of the lorry confessed to the police that Satyanarayana Prajapathi and Karan Singh of Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district bought the ganja from one Waseem of Odisha near Andhra Pradesh border.

The ganja was being transported to Madhya Pradesh in a lorry to hand over the contraband to the other members of the gang - Ishwar Singh and Prem Singh for further distribution.

Police seized the lorry along with the contraband and arrested the lorry driver and cleaner. Both the accused were being produced before the local court.

The SP said the district police are trying to choke the ganja supply chain by maintaining a strict vigil at the border points and foiling the attempts by gangs involved in ganja distribution racket.

Assistant Revenue Inspector Vishwajith of Odisha and Irshad Khan, a teacher from Konta in Chhattisgarh, were allegedly found to be escorting and supplying ganja, the SP said, underlining the need for intensive vigil on the other side of the inter-State borders to effectively curb the menace.

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