The 100-kg ganja seizure in Sattur late on Sunday evening shocked Virudhunagar district police, who said it was the first time that such a huge haul had been made.
Acting on a tip-off, the district police raided a house on Railway Feeder Road in Sattur, seized three bags of ganja and arrested G. Gurusraj (42) of Nallanchettipatti near Sattur, V. Suresh (28) and M. Chinnasamy (37), both from Cumbum. The police also seized Rs.52,000 from their possession.
They were arrested under the provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and were remanded in judicial custody on Monday.
A police source said the district police came under tremendous pressure after sleuths of Narcotics Control Bureau seized 37 kg of ganja from three persons at Keezharajakularaman near Rajapalayam on Friday.
“Even the officials who raided the house in Sattur were not aware that they would make a huge catch of 100 kg. We have only heard of seizure of a few kg in the district,” the source said.
An official, who was part of the team, said the narcotics substance was packed in two-kg packets.
A total of 49 packets and around five kg of smaller packets for retail sale were also seized.
Interrogation revealed that Suresh and Chinnasamy had brought the ganja to Sattur by road from Usilampatti.
The contraband was originally brought from Andhra Pradesh, the officer said.
The gang had used the hired house as a hub for distribution of ganja to towns down South.
“They had plans to transport the packets to Kovilpatti, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli,” he added.
The officer suspected that the accused had used railway route for transportation. He said they could have used the railway parcel services for transportation. As the house was located on Railway Feeder Road it had made their task easier for transportation, he added.
“The narcotics substance was tightly packed in polythene bags so that the strong smell did not draw the attention of people around,” he said.
Ganja peddling was also reported in Madurai rural district, when the police seized 26 kg of the narcotic substance at Vandiyur in November 2013. Rivalry in drug peddling also led to a double murder in Vandiyur in January this year.
Meanwhile, Virudhunagar district police made more seizures of the narcotic substances at different places on Monday as well.
Srivilliputtur Town police seized 3.350 kg of ganja from four persons and arrested M. Muthammal (78), V. Mani (45), M. Shanthi (40) and K. Sivasamy (86).
Sattur taluk police arrested P. Subbiah (70) of Ameerpalayam and seized 1.100 kg of ganja.
