An ambulance carrying 1,813 kilograms of cannabis was intercepted by sleuths from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in Visakhapatnam on Friday. The seized narcotic is worth Rs 2,71,95,000 in the grey market, say officials.
The DRI officials nabbed the driver along with the vehicle based on a tip-off. The cannabis was being transported in an ambulance of the Force Traveller model and was heading towards Raipur in Chattisgarh. The vehicle was intercepted on the Sabbavaram- Pendurthi road on the Chennai Kolkata Highway in Andhra Pradesh.
Upon searching the vehicle, the officials found cannabis worth 1,813 kilograms packed in 361 brown coloured packets weighing approximately 5 kilograms each. Cannabis, also known as marijuana or ganja is classified as a narcotic drug under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
This haul by the DRI comes two days after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) unit in Hyderabad intercepted a truck at Rajendranagar carrying 1020 kilograms of cannabis. The contraband was concealed under 18 metric tons of coal powder in the truck coming from Visakhapatnam in AP.
The officials had to remove the coal powder using an earth mover to recover the cannabis. The 39-year-old truck driver who has since been arrested was moving the contraband to Zaheerabad in Telangana.
The NCB in Hyderabad has so far seized 4,557 kilograms of cannabis in 2018-19.