CHENNAI: A special team of the Chennai police Friday arrested four persons for allegedly growing ganja plants inside their house at Madambakkam, about 30 km from the city.
According to a senior police officer, a cop posed himself as a client and approached a ganja peddler who led the police to the apartment in Madambakkam, the town in Tambaram corporation which is known for its greeneries and the centuries-old Dhenupureeswarar temple.
At the apartment, the police team from North Beach police station found Sakthivel, a techie and his friends, Shyam Sundar, Srikanth and Narendra Kumar with a whole set-up inside one of the rooms to grow ganja plants. Preliminary investigations revealed that they learnt to grow ganja indoors by watching videos on the internet and using LED lights as a replacement for sunlight and grew the plant in an air-conditioned room.
Upon investigation, it was found that Sakthivel had suffered losses by investing in cryptocurrency and took to ganja selling to compensate for the losses. Apart from ganja, the team also sold narcotic stamps. The police recovered three kilograms of ganja and LSD stamps from the house.
Police sources said that Shyam Sundar is employed with the railways department. The police are making inquiries to find out whether he is a contract staff or a permanent employee. Further investigations are on.
Similarly, in a special drive against drugs last week (February 24 to March 2), the Chennai city police booked 25 cases and arrested 32 people. The police recovered 262.77 kgs of ganja, 1.75 kgs ganja-infused chocolate, weight mobile phones, 10 gms of methamphetamine, 50 gms of ganja oil, 1,440 painkiller tablets, five mobile phones, three two-wheelers, one car and Rs. 750 in cash.