CHENNAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday seized over 300 kg of ganja from a truck that was travelling from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala. According to a statement released by the NCB Chennai Zone, a team of officials, based on a tip-off, intercepted the truck at Thiruvallur Road, Uthukottai on Saturday and recovered around 327.87 kg of ganja, which was compressed inside 150 packets.
“The entire vehicle was empty and ganja was concealed in a special cavity made in the vehicle, which was difficult to detect. The seized ganja was sourced from Annavaram in AP and was destined to Thiruvananthapuram,” said a senior NCB official.
The vehicle was being driven by one Dubash Sankar from Kodungiyur. The information of the seizure was passed on to the NCB officials in Cochin Sub Zone, who later arrested one M Sreenath, who was waiting at Kalaikavila (TN-Kerala border).
“He was the receiver of the consignment. He was engaged in drug peddling at Vizhinjam in Kerala for the past 4 years. Both persons were arrested under NDPS Act 1985,” said the official. The statement further added that illegal ganja cultivation in India is largely concentrated around the naxal-infected Andhra-Odisha border areas. Ganja from this region finds its way all over the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, and is smuggled to Sri Lanka.
“Difficult terrain and inaccessibility make this area difficult for the law enforcement agencies to conduct periodic destruction of illicitly grown ganja. The other major ganja cultivation region are Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” said the statement.
Journey
The entire vehicle was empty and ganja was concealed in a special cavity made in the vehicle, which was difficult to detect. The ganja was from Andhra and was going to Thruvananthapuram