A special team of police seized 96 kg of ganja from Mukundarayar chatram near Dhanushkodi on Tuesday.
It received a call through the Helpline (9489919722) that a huge packet was floating in the sea near a coastal village since Monday evening. The team visited the spot and found narcotics. It found 96 packets inside a bundle. Discreet checks revealed that ganja was stashed in each packet weighing two kg. “Probably, it may be intended to be smuggled to Sri Lanka,” an officer said.
Utilising the Covid-19 situation, smugglers may have dropped the narcotics in the sea and planned to smuggle it in the coming days when the police may be focused on the curfew.
SP Varun Kumar, who visited the spot, directed the police to register a case. He appealed to the public to make use of the Helpline and assured that both information and caller’s identity would be kept confidential.
Meanwhile, the Coastal Security personnel said that a similar racket was busted last month and close to 145 kg of ganja was seized. After patrol/ surveillance teams spotted smugglers, they ran under the cover of darkness in the Sri Lankan waters.
A huge cache of yellow metal was seized from a fibre boat and three Sri Lankan nationals were held about a fortnight ago.
Following the seizure of the narcotics, the police have stepped up the vigil both on sea and on the land. Check-posts leading to Dhanushkodi has been tightened and round-the-clock surveillance would be enhanced.
