The Special Court for Essential Commodities Act cases in Coimbatore on Thursday awarded two terms of 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to two persons who smuggled 500 kg of ganja from Andhra Pradesh to Tiruppur in an ambulance in 2019.
N. Logeswaran, Presiding Officer of Special Court for EC Act cases, awarded the punishment to M. Arunkumar (23) and A. Karuppusamy (27) of Udumalpet. They were sentenced to undergo 20 years of RI for trafficking ganja and another 20 years of RI for the possession of the contraband. The sentences will run concurrently.
The Narcotics Intelligence Bureau CID (NIB-CID) team headed by the then Deputy Superintendent of Police R. Vincent arrested Arunkumar and Karuppusamy with 500 kg of ganja from Udumalpet on October 22, 2019.
The duo had smuggled the contraband from Andhra Pradesh using an ambulance. After reaching Udumalpet, 200 kg of ganja was kept at the residence of Karuppusamy.
Arunkumar was arrested first by the NIB-CID team while shifting 300 kg of ganja in a mini ambulance belonging to Karuppusamy. The NIB-CID team later searched Karuppusamy’s residence and seized the remaining 200 kg and arrested him..
