20 bundles of ganja wash ashore on Kodiyakkarai coast in Nagapattinam district

This is the second such incident in the region this month; police believe smugglers threw the drugs into the sea on encountering patrol boats

Twenty bundles of ganja washed ashore along the Kodiyakkarai coast in Nagapattinam district on Saturday, August 26, 2023 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Twenty bundles of ganja, weighing two kilograms each, washed ashore along the Kodiyakkarai coast in Nagapattinam district on Saturday morning.

Sources at the Coastal Security Group said local fishermen found several mysterious bundles washed ashore about 4.5 km east of Kodiyakkarai, near the old lighthouse on Saturday morning. The bundles were scattered along the coast, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Vedaranyam marine police station.

Based on an alert from the fishermen, officials from the Customs Department rushed to the shore and recovered 20 bundles of raw ganja, packed tightly into carton boxes and wrapped in polythene bags, each weighing two kilograms.

Police sources suspect that smugglers may have thrown the packages into the sea after encountering patrol vessels of the Navy or the Coast Guard.

Customs Department officials have begun an investigation in this regard.

The incident comes on the heels of the recovery of three bundles of ganja wrapped with packaging tape at three different locations in Mayiladuthurai and Karaikal districts two weeks ago.