Prohibition and Excise department of Telangana seized ganja estimated to be worth Rs 1 crore in Medchal district near Hyderabad on Wednesday, November 10. An official said 462 kg ganja being transported in two cars was seized near Kowkur village in Alwal mandal and four persons were arrested. Medchal district Excise Deputy Commissioner David Ravikant told reporters that the contraband was seized when it was being transported from Andhra-Odisha border area, where it was bought at Rs 3,000 per kg, to be sold in Maharashtra at Rs 15,000 per kg. The total value of ganja seized is estimated to be worth Rs 1 crore 5 lakh, police said.
The Deputy Commissioner said a case has been registered and police have taken up further investigation. Those arrested have been identified as MA Fareed, Md Ismail, Sachin Chavan and Baswaraj. This is the latest in a series of seizures of ganja and other drugs by the excise and police in and around Hyderabad during the last few days. The department launched an intensive campaign to curb drug peddling in the state on the direction of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao last month.
The excise officials had seized 4.92 kg of the party drug mephedrone, also known by the street name “meow meow”, from three different places in Medchal Malkajgiri district on October 23. A District Task Force team from Medchal Malkajgiri was sent to an apartment in Kukatpally, based on information that the drug was being consumed there. The team found a cab driver named Prashant Reddy in possession of about 5 gms of the drug. He then led the police to his supplier, a man named Mahesh Kanna Reddy. Police found 921 gm of mephedrone in his possession. Mahesh led the police to another man named Ramakrishna Gowd in Nagarkurnool district who was caught with 4 kg of the drug, according to the police.
On October 30, two alleged drug peddlers were arrested and 110 kg of ganja was seized from their possession in LB Nagar. The contraband, estimated to be valued at Rs 18.50 lakh, was being transported from the agency area in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh to Nagpur via Hyderabad.
(With IANS inputs)