NUAPADA: Nuapada police seized over 62 kg of ganja and arrested 13 people including six women in two separate raids conducted in the district on Wednesday. The contraband was being smuggled from Odisha’s border region near Jethupali village to Madhya Pradesh.
In the first operation, a police team intercepted two youths from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh near the railway station on Biju Expressway and seized around 10 kg of ganja packed in 10 packets and a mobile phone from them.
The youths, Smile Khan (27) and Shekh Naseem (35), were arrested and produced in court. Later in the day, another police team raided the new bus stand area in Nuapada and apprehended 11 people including six women with 26 packets of ganja weighing around 52 kg. The accused had concealed the contraband by strapping the packets to their bodies.
Ten of the accused are from Bhopal and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh and one belonged to Komna in Nuapada. While the accused were forwarded to court, five children accompanying them were produced before the Child Welfare Committee for their safe custody.
Nuapada SP Amritpal Singh said the crackdown was part of the district police’s sustained action against narcotics smuggling networks. Four suspected ganja suppliers linked to the racket have also been identified and stringent action will be taken against them. Investigation is on to identify other people involved in the racket and dismantle the drug network, he added.