BERHAMPUR: Excise officials of Berhampur nabbed four persons who were reportedly smuggling around 105 kg of ganja to Cuttack in a timber-laden truck on Monday.
The accused are Abhijit Sahoo (23), Suresh Chandra Mahalik (44), Damodar Mohanty (49) and Nakul Polai (40), all of Kalapathar area under Baideswar police limits in Cuttack district.
Excise DSP Srutikant Rout said after receiving a tip-off about transport of huge amount of ganja from Kandhamal, patrolling was intensified on NH-157 near Aska. At around 5.50 am, an Excise team spotted a car and a truck, both bearing Cuttack registration, parked suspiciously at Khandarabali chowk.
The team reached the spot and searched the car first, but did not find anything. However, the truck was found to be loaded with eucalyptus logs. On being asked about the reason behind transporting the logs to such a long distance, the truck driver failed to give any satisfactory answer. Subsequently, the excise personnel searched the truck and found five sacks containing 105 kg ganja hidden underneath the logs.
The DSP said four persons, three in the truck and one in the car, were arrested. Both the vehicles, 805 pieces of eucalyptus logs and three mobile phones were also seized.
Rout said an NDPS case was registered in this connection. The four accused were produced in court with a prayer to take them on remand for 15 days for questioning.
