Officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chennai zone have seized 327.87 kg of ganja and arrested two, including a main peddler of Vizhinjam, Kerala.
Acting on a specific intelligence input, on Saturday, a team of NCB officers, intercepted a goods carrier at Thiruvallur Road, Uttukottai, Tamil Nadu. The vehicle was being driven by Dubash Sankar, of Kodungiyur, Chennai. The entire vehicle was empty, but sleuths found ganja concealed in a special cavity made in the vehicle that was difficult to detect. The seized contraband was sourced from Annavaram, Andhra Pradesh and was destined to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
The ganja was concealed in a compressed form, wrapped with brown adhesive tape. A total of 327.87 kg of ganja was found in 150 packets.
Immediate follow up action by officials of NCB, Cochin Sub Zone resulted in the apprehension of Sreenath M, resident of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala at Kalaikavala on the TN-Kerala border on Sunday. He was the intended recipient of the said ganja consignment. He was engaged in drug peddling at Vizhinjam, Kerala for past four years.
Both Sankar and Seenath were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, said NCB in a press release.
Amit Ghawate, Zonal Director, Chennai said illegal ganja cultivation in India is largely concentrated around the Naxal Andhra-Odisha border areas. Ganja from this region finds its way to all over the country including to Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Kerala, West Bengal and is smuggled across the ocean to Sri Lanka. Difficult terrain and inaccessibility make it difficult for the law enforcement agencies to conduct periodic destructions of the ganja.
A major ganja cultivation region in India is the hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Further, North-eastern states of India are also vulnerable to ganja cultivation due to their favourable climatic conditions and inaccessible area. The seizures of ganja have been increasing and the traffickers have been transporting ganja by road, he said
This is the second seizure involving substantial quantities of ganja by NCB, Chennai in the last two weeks.
