Police have unearthed a ganja smuggling racket with the arrest of two members of a gang, one each from Telangana and Tamil Nadu near Tada and Kavali respectively in SPSR Nellore district.
Property valued at ₹80 lakh, including ganja worth ₹65 lakh, had been seized from the offenders, R. Veeranam from Mettuthottiyamkulam village, near Virudhanagar and T. Srinivas from Sarapaka, near Kothagudem, by the Central Crime Station(CCS) personnel in the district late on Friday, Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Bhushan told a media conference here on Saturday.
Preliminary interrogation of the offenders revealed that the contraband weighing 430kg was being moved from Bhadrachalam of Telangana to Tiruchirapalli of Tamil Nadu and destined for Sri Lanka, the SP said. Two cases were registered under relevant sections of the NDPS Act, one by Sullurpeta police and another by Kavali Rural police, he said.
Sullurpeta police recovered 180kg of ganja from Veeranam concealed in packets after a hot chase. Interrogation of the accused led to the arrest of the gang member Srinivas by the Kavali Rural police and recovery of 250kg ganja from him. Two cars worth ₹15 lakh used by them for the illegal transport of the contraband were also seized.
Further investigation by a special police team led by CSS inspector I. Srinivasan was under way.