On Monday, a ganja dealer from Odisha was arrested by a police team helped by a constable posing as a north Indian.
The man had sent 10 kilograms of ganja through a courier agency in Odisha and collected it at Chennai, the police said.
According to sources, a police informer was keeping a lookout at the beach to identify people selling and buying ganja. On Monday afternoon, he was approached by the dealer, a middle-aged man, who asked him if he wanted to purchase ganja.
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“The informer told him that he knew someone who was interested and arranged to meet him in the evening,” said inspector Karnan, attached to the Anna Square police station.
The informer contacted the Anna Square police.
“We then asked a constable who looks like he is from the north to meet the dealer. He met the man at the beach and found out his name was Damodar Behra (57) and he was from Odisha. He was asking for Rs. 70, 000 for the narcotic,” said Mr. Karnan.
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The dealer promised the constable that he would take him to Chintadripet where the ganja had been delivered. A police team then nabbed the man and took him in for interrogation. Damodar Behra confessed he was staying in Choolai and had gone to his hometown recently.
He had purchased 10 kilograms of ganja from a man there.
“He packed the narcotic in two packets and made them look like they contained medicines. He then smeared naphthalene on the packets to camouflage the smell of the narcotic and handed them over to a courier agency to be sent to Chennai,” said Mr. Karnan.
Damodar Behra returned to Chennai and picked up the parcel from a courier office in Chintradripet.
“He did not know whom to sell the ganja to and was thus loitering at the beach. He claims to be a first-time offender,” said Mr. Karnan.