The Enforcement Wing of the Excise & Prohibition Department arrested four persons and seized about 1,800 kg of ganja on Tuesday. The seized contraband is estimated to be worth around ₹1.8 crore. The ganja was being smuggled from Visakhapatnam Agency to Bihar.
Among the accused, two belong to Pedabayulu mandal in Visakhapatnam Agency while the other two hail from Odisha.
According to Excise officials, the four persons were transporting the ganja in a van from Bongaram Panchayat in Pedabayulu to Bihar via Bhubaneswar. Acting on a tip-off, the Enforcement team intercepted the vehicle at Garikabandha village under V. Madugula police station limits.
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In order to hoodwink the officials, the smugglers camouflaged the contraband with fish feed bags. During checks, they claimed that it was fish feed. Based on intelligence reports, the team checked the vehicle in detail and unearthed the ganja packets.
The case has been handed over to V. Madugula police for further investigation.