Over 440 kg of dry ganja was seized and six persons were arrested by the District Police, when they were transporting the ganja in a car near Dasarayyapalem area under Ravikamatham Police Station limits in the district on Tuesday.
The accused were arrested under various Sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act-1985. The arrested were identified as: Pothuraju Kumaraswamy (25), Jerripothula Ramarao (29), Marisa Eswararao (41), Gandepalli Durgaprasad (28), Jerriipothula Suryanarayana (29) and Jerripothula Tataji (36), all hailing from Ravikamatham mandal.
The police said the gang procured the ganja from various parts of the Agency and packed it in 20 gunny bags and were on their way to hand over the same to inter-State smugglers, according to Kothakota Inspector G. Koteswara Rao. Their vehicle was intercepted by the police and the ganja was seized. Two bikes, which were used as pilot vehicles, were also seized. The kingpin and financier Kumaraswamy acquired 0.40 cents of land worth ₹5 lakh in his father’s name at BB Patnam with money earned from ganja trade.
