Hyderabad: The Telangana EAGLE Force, along with the Rachakonda Narcotics Police, intercepted a lorry container carrying 237 kg of ganja worth Rs 1.18 crore near YNR Function Hall on National Highway 65 at the Vijayawada-Mumbai stretch, and apprehended two persons, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, the joint team stopped the vehicle and took into custody Rajesh Kumar, the owner-cum-driver of the lorry, and his associate Anil Ranganath Bichare, who was travelling with him, an official said.
According to police, Kumar, a native of Bihar who moved to Mumbai in 2015 and took up truck driving for a living, came in contact around seven months ago with two Pune-based men, Suresh Kedari and Dharam Shindey, who allegedly procure ganja from Odisha and sell it in Pune and Mumbai.
When Rajesh Kumar expressed interest in buying a second-hand lorry container, the duo offered to fund the purchase in exchange for his help transporting ganja from Odisha, police said. He bought the vehicle about four months ago, with Kedari and Shindey chipping in Rs 3 lakh towards the cost.
Bichare, a labourer from Pune, had reportedly been assisting the duo with the Odisha-to-Pune ganja run for the past two years.
The trail from Vijayawada to Rayagada
Police said Kedari and Shindey handed Rajesh Kumar Rs 1.5 lakh on July 7, Rs 70,000 as commission and Rs 80,000 towards travel, and directed him to contact one Pabitra Kumar Sabar, alias Pitambar Sabar, in Vijayawada. Bichare accompanied him on the trip.
The two reached Vijayawada on July 11 and, after unloading a consignment of PVC pipes at the airport there, travelled with Sabar to Gunpur village in Odisha’s Rayagada district. With ganja unavailable at the time, they were told to wait, then asked to move to Visakhapatnam for two more days.
On the night of July 14, Sabar arrived in a four-wheeler and handed over 10 gunny bags containing 237 kg of ganja, the police said.
The duo were intercepted by EAGLE Force while heading towards Pune via Hyderabad. They initially claimed to have travelled only as far as Visakhapatnam, but their call detail records showed visits to Rayagada district, following which they admitted to concealing the ganja in the lorry’s cabin, police said.
Hunt on for absconding accused
A case has been registered at Rachakonda Narcotics Police Station and police said further investigation was on to trace Kedari, Shindey and Sabar, all of whom remain absconding, and to dismantle the wider network.
Police said EAGLE Force has kept a close watch on ganja movement from Odisha into the state and elsewhere in the country and has seized around 1,500 kg of the contraband in the past two months alone.
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