CHENNAI: Cracking down on ganja peddlers targeting college students in the city, the police have arrested seven men, including a BE graduate, in various parts of the city on Sunday. A total of 7.750 kg of ganja has been seized.
One of the gangs busted by the Koyambedu police was being allegedly operated by two men — a BE graduate and a B. Sc-holder.
“We were getting regular complaints that a few men were trading ganja to the students of a deemed college nearby. So, a police team sent a decoy along with two others and waited for the men near the Vasantha Bhavan Hotel in Maduravoyal on the Vellore-Chennai Road. Around 6 am on Sunday, a man was seen along with a few others and the police nabbed the suspects and took them to the police station for enquiry,” said an investigation officer from the Koyambedu station.
Police said the two graduates were selling ganja from a rented house in Maduravoyal while posing as job-seekers in the city. “We seized 750 grams of ganja, a weighing machine and a two-wheeler,” said the police. The other two men in the gang were also dealers who were selling ganja to the medical students of the university but were let off with warning.
The men were identified as M Aravindh (23) from Padi, a B.Sc Physics graduate from a private college in Chennai and R Nowbal Mohammed (23) from Tirunelveli, a civil engineering graduate. The two men were staying in a rented house in Maduravoyal just behind the Vasantha Bhavan Hote and making satchels of 50 to 70 grams of contraband in the house.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the men had bought around 2 kg of ganja from an ex-student of a nearby college and were working as dealers for the supply in the institution and surrounding areas. The graduates would take some commission and sell the contraband for a price of `1,000 per satchel,” said the police officer.
“The network is too big and a team of police are working on tracking down all dealers and distributors so as to catch the kingpin,” said the police officer.
Similarly, based on a tip-off, during a vehicle check close to the MGR statue near Kumananchavadi on Saturday night, the Poonamallee police nabbed three men in a bike - T Chinnarasu (22) from Shenoy Nagar, P Mohan (19) and A Prasanna Balaji (20) from Aminjikarai. The police said the trio were school dropouts and most of their customers were college-going students.