CHENNAI: With the arrest of four persons posing as members of a tourist biking group, the police claimed to have busted a ganja racket, involved in smuggling the contraband from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to Chennai.
The suspects, identified as Dayalan, Udaya, Prashanth and Gopalakrishnan, all residents of Ayappakkam near Ambattur, were arrested during a routine patrol at JP Estate in Avadi. The police have seized 62 kilograms of ganja from the bags they were carrying.
Sources said following their interrogation, the police later detained another suspect from his residence in Ayappakkam and seized an additional 38 kilograms of ganja. They also seized two motorcycles used for transporting ganja and a car used for distributing the contraband.
The police said the suspects travelled along with tourist biking groups while transporting the narcotic substance to avoid detection. The gang would later allegedly distribute ganja to local peddlers and buyers in the Chennai suburbs. All the four suspects have been remanded in judicial custody.
In another operation on Saturday, the Ayappakkam police intercepted two bikers - Gokul and Rukeshkumar, both residents of Ayappakkam - during a vehicle check near a petrol bunk on Donegala Camp Road and seized 40 kilograms of ganja, 1,700 nitrazepam tablets and 300 tapentadol tablets from them. The motorcycle used by the duo was also seized. The duo was later remanded in judicial custody. The police are probing the larger supply network and attempting to identify other persons involved in the interstate narcotics trade.
In a separate crackdown, the Tambaram city police intensified their anti-narcotics drive with special raids across multiple locations, seizing 21 kilograms of ganja and 1,900 tapentadol tablets and arresting several suspects linked to drug distribution.