HYDERABAD: The Special Operations Team (SOT) of Cyberabad police busted a major inter state Ganja smuggling racket and seized a huge quantity of Ganja and vehicles used for transportation, all worth Rs 1.80 Crore and also arrested a six member gang who were transporting Ganja from Odisha to Maharashtra via Hyderabad.
M Stephen Raveendra, Cyberabad commissioner said Ashok Khule, Amol Athawale, Rahul Kumar Singh, Vilash Jagannath Phachore Firoz Momin and Sudam Ghotekar, who were transporting Ganja were arrested and 800 Kgs of dry ganja, a DCM van carrying Ganja and another car escorting the van, were seized from them at Miyapur in the city.
"As there is strict vigil on Ganja movement in and around the city, the smugglers are adopting different routes to and passing through the outskirts. They had purchased Ganja for Rs 3,000 per Kg and were planning to sell it at Rs Rs 20,000 per Kg,” Raveendra added. Subhash Kumar, the supplier from Odisha and Vikas Jadhav, the receiver in Nashik of Maharashtra are absconding.
Based on a tip off, SOT sleuths of Shamshabad zone of Cyberabad along with Miyapur police team intercepted the car used by the gang near the Miyapur toll plaza. On questioning, the passengers in the car revealed about the DCM van transporting Ganja.
Police said Vikas Jadhav and the arrested accused belong to Maharashtra and have been running the Ganja smuggling business from the agency area in Koraput district of Odisha to Maharashtra via Hyderabad.
While the absconding accused Subhash Kumar and agency area monitor the cultivation and supply network respectively, the other accused transport Ganja from agency areas in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh and in Odisha. But none of them are aware of the source of the Ganja.
Accordingly, Vikas Jadhav placed an order for 800 Kg of dry ganja and after confirmation, the arrested accused traveled to Koraput agency area in a DCM van and parked it at a remote place in the forest of Koraput, Odisha agency area. The suppliers took the vehicle and parked it back in the same place, after loading 156 packets of Ganja containing five Kgs each and concealed them with bags packed with ginger. When the gang was passing through Hyderabad, Cyberabad police nabbed them.