Cops seize 208 kg Ganja en route to Maharashtra from Andhra; 5 held

Hyderabad: The sleuths of Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSANB), in a joint operation with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), arrested five persons on Friday and seized 208 kg of Ganja from them.

The accused were caught near Mission Bhagiratha Water Plant, Jadcherla of Mahabubnagar district while transporting the contraband from Parvathipuram in Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh to Pune in Maharashtra. A lorry and a car were also seized from them. The ganja was recovered from a secret compartment in the lorry. The total worth of the seized objects, including the drugs, is said to be around Rs 1 crore.

The accused have been identified as Raju Ambadas Shinde (30), Balaji Arjun Kale (24), Nikhil Nandakumar Ghawali (27), Madhukar Arjun Kale (18) and Sanjay Ravindra Chowhan (25). They all hail from Osmanabad in Maharashtra.

Accused created secret compartment for drugs

The police said that the main accused is Hasan, who is currently absconding. He started the operation by offering a deal to Raju Ambadas Shinde to transport the contraband drug i.e. Ganja from Parvathipuram to Pune. He agreed to pay Rs 2 lakhs as commission. Similarly, he employed the other accused, who are said to be his relatives, to assist in the transport of the drugs.

Raju Ambadas Shinde procured a lorry to transport the Ganja. Together, the accused created a secret compartment on top of the lorry engine for concealing Ganja. The space could hold up to 250 kg of Ganja. He also procured a car to go ahead of the lorry and warn it in case there was any police patrol or check posts ahead.

As per Hasan’s orders, the accused left Maharashtra and reached an agency area of Parvathipuram, where they collected 104 packets of Ganja, each packet containing 2 kg of Ganja, from an unknown person. They started their journey by hiding the Ganja in the secret compartment of the lorry. Raju, Balaji and Nikhil piloted the lorry in the car keeping a distance of 20 km between them.

However, the sleuths of TSNAB and NCB officials came to know about their operation, stopped the vehicles in time and arrested the accused.

Police advisory

In recent times, several youths/students have gotten addicted to drugs and committed crimes or are involved in other anti-social activities. Several families have become victims of this menace.

TSNAB, Hyderabad, requests the youths and students not to fall prey to drugs and requests the parents to keep a watch on the activities of their children. Please feel free to approach the police directly or pass information to the police on phone no 8712671111 to curtail such anti-social activities and strive for a drug-free Hyderabad.