NAGAPATTINAM: The ‘Q’ branch police here on Friday detained two persons from West Bengal who were allegedly found carrying about 75 kg of hashish. The contraband, estimated to be worth Rs 150 crore, was meant to be smuggled to Sri Lanka via sea, the police said.
According to the police sources, the police received information that a group was planning to smuggle a consignment of drugs via sea route and that some of them were staying in Velankanni. Following this, a team led by district ‘Q’ branch inspector M Ramachandra Boopathy held searches at lodges in the early hours of Friday.
During the search, they interrogated two individuals at a lodge who told the police that they were headed to Rameswaram and stopped at Velankanni to rest. On suspicion, they checked the SUV belonging to Sunit Khawas (36) and Dil Kumar Thapa Mangar (34), both natives of West Bengal, and found the hashish hidden in a secret compartment under the seats, sources added.
18 kg ganja seized from KL man at Chennai Central
The railway police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly transporting around 18 kg of ganja from Visakhapatnam in AP, on Friday. Police identified the accused as M Kasim of Malappuram in Kerala.
They had acted on specific intelligence and kept a watch on people arriving from AP by train. One man with heavy luggage was spotted acting suspiciously on the platform after the Howrah Mail arrived at Dr MGR Chennai Central station, police said. Upon a search of his person, the police allegedly found 18 kg of ganja in nine bundles wrapped in brown cover.