Madurai
Madurai district police on Thursday seized 150 kg of ganja that was being smuggled into the district from Andhra Pradesh with the arrest of three persons at Appanthirupathi.
The arrested persons were identified as M. Rajapandi (35) of Pasukkaranpatti in Usilampatti and living in Ambarampalyam in Pollachi, S. Nagaraj and his cousin, K. Sanjeev Kumar, also from Ambarampalayam.
Acting on specific intelligence, a police team, led by the Woman Sub-Inspector of Police, Appanthirupathi, Ashtalakshmi, intercepted a speeding car at Appanthirupathi on Thursday forenoon. However, the car did not stop and zoomed past them. The police team intercepted the vehicle after a hot chase.
The team found that the ganja was stocked in the car in six bags each containing 25 kg.
“These persons have been frequently buying ganja from Andhra Pradesh and smuggling it to Madurai and then supplying it around this region. We got a tip-off on the movement of the contraband after we secured a local ganja peddlar,” the Superintendent of Police, N. Manivannan, said.
The Oomachikulam Inspector of Police, Kalaikathiravan, who interrogated them, said that the accused had used two fake number plates for the car — one while the car was plying in Andhra Pradesh and another after it entered Tamil Nadu and reached Tiruchi.
After arriving in Tiruchi, they had used the original number plate. “With heavy deployment of police owing to bandh on Thursday, the accused chose to travel through Alagarkoil and Alanganallur to Usilampatti before taking the ganja to Kerala,” Mr. Kalaikathiravan said.
The police team recovered the number plates along with the car.
The police booked two more persons, identified as Palpandi of Usilampatti, and Chellapandi of Cumbum, who are now settled in Andhra Pradesh, and are reportedly indulging in supplying ganja to various groups.
