The Rachakonda police on Monday morning seized Rs 1.3 crore worth of ganja which was being illegally transported in a lorry into Hyderabad on October 5. Two men, transporting the contraband from Odisha, were arrested near Outer Ring Road by a team of police officers. Based on credible information, officials of the Special Operations Team (SOT) under the LB Nagar Zone and the Abdhullapurmet police stopped the lorry carrying 1,010 kilograms of ganja. The driver and his accomplice have been arrested. The police have registered cases against the supplier and the buyer as well.
The Rs 1.3 crore worth of ganja was being transported in the form of 194 packets, each weighing 5.5 kilograms. Apart from the lorry load of ganja, the police also seized two mobile phones and Rs 4,000 in cash from the two men.
The ganja was being transported from Koraput district in Odisha to Uttar Pradesh via Telangana, as the dealers allegedly hoped to make sales in Telangana on their way. The two men arrested have been identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Ramzan, the driver of the lorry, a native of Haryana, and Schashikant Gowtham Rao, a native of Uttar Pradesh.
The police have also registered cases against the supplier of the ganja, identified as 45-year-old Mahadev from Odisha, as well as the purchaser of the ganja, identified as 40-year-old Vivek Singh from Uttar Pradesh. The owner of the container, Imran from Haryana, has also been booked. All three men are reported as absconding.
The police have registered a case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, against the five men at Abdullapurmet police station.
According to a statement from the police, Mohammad and Gowtham got into the ganja transport business due to financial hardship. Mohammad began as a cleaner of the trucker and became a driver, despite having no driver’s licence. They routinely made trips between Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, transporting the contraband hidden in a secret compartment behind the driver's seat. The police said the compartment is only visible if the driver cabin is searched.
The cops said that the men used to buy ganja for Rs 3,000 per kilogram from Mahadev in Odisha and the contraband was to be sold by Vivek for Rs 9,000 per kilogram in Uttar Pradesh. All financial support was provided by Vivek, said police. The transactions to Mahadev are suspected to have been carried out through UPI platforms such as Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, etc.