NELLORE: The district police on Sunday arrested two people at Sriram Nagar in Kandukur town for their involvement in inter-state smuggling of ganja and liquor. They seized 105 kg ganja worth `10 lakh, three cars worth `20 lakh and eight liquor bottles worth Rs 20,000.
The duo has been identified as Pamlapati Srinivas, a native of Ikkurthi village at Narasaraopeta in Palnadu district, and Pala Ravi Teja from Athukur village in Ungutur mandal, Krishna district. Elaborating on their modus operandi, Kandukur DSP K Srinivasulu said, the accused would procure ganja from Visakhapatnam Agency area and smuggle it to Delhi in their own cars, which are designed with secret chambers to conceal the contraband and hoodwink the police. “They would then buy alcohol at cheaper prices in Delhi to sell it at higher prices in AP,” he said.
On a tip-off, a team led by Kandukur CI V Sriram, conducted vehicle checks at Palukuru on April 24. On noticing this, the duo abandoned the car and fled the scene. When police checked the vehicle, they found 50 packets of ganja weighing 85 kg.
Based on the vehicle’s technical data, police cracked the case and arrested the two accused on Sunday. They also seized another 20 kg ganja from their possession. During the investigation, police learnt that Srinivas owned a second-hand cars business.
In a bid to make easy money, he began smuggling ganja to Delhi from Vizag Agency. He along with the other accused, Ravi Teja, would then procure popular brands of liquor from Delhi and sell them in Andhra Pradesh at a higher price. The duo were also involved in the sale of ganja in Kandukur.
In 2016, Rajahmundry police had arrested Srinivas for smuggling ganja. Following this, he was sentenced to imprisonment for three years. Delhi police, too, had apprehended him in another case. Nellore SP Ch Vijaya Rao appreciated the efforts of Kandukur sub-division police and announced rewards for the cops for cracking the case.