Three persons have been arrested and 800 kg of marijuana worth ₹2.4 crore has been recovered from their possession, the police said on Tuesday.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) B.K. Singh said the accused have been identified as Jaipal Yadav (33), Vikas Kumar (22) and Purshottam Kumar (34), all residents of Patna.
“On September 23, police got a tip-off and laid a trap near Najafgarh and two persons (Jaipal and Vikas) were apprehended, while they were travelling in a truck. A total of 800 kg of marijuana packed in 32 plastic gunny bags was recovered from the vehicle,” he said.
During interrogation, the accused allegedly told the police that the marijuana had been sent by Purshottam for smuggling in Delhi. At their instance, Purshottam was apprehended from Bihar. “Purshottam disclosed he had loaded the truck with ganja in Andhra Pradesh and had sent the contraband to Delhi for sale,” Mr. Singh said.
The police said that Purshottam and his associate Mohammad Salaam have been involved in smuggling since 2010 and that Purshottam has never been arrested earlier. Purushotam and Salaam used to travel to Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, almost twice a month to procure the drug from local sources in the jungle and loaded it onto trucks for smuggling to various parts of the country, including Delhi and NCR, the police said.
Salaam was arrested on September 19 and is presently in jail
