HYDERABAD: Rachakonda police on Monday arrested a 10-member gang including two women, involved in ganja smuggling from Andhra Pradesh to Mumbai via Hyderabad and seized 470 kg of ganja, cars used for transportation, cash, all worth a total of `1.20 crore from their possession, at Hayathnagar on the city outskirts. Two members of the gang are absconding. The gang used the women to escort them under the guise of family members, assuming they could escape police checks.
Police said the accused Ashok Kumar along with his associates are into ganja smuggling for the past few years. They have good contacts with ganja buyers from Karnataka and Maharashtra. The substance was procured from Agency areas of East Godavari district. Another accused Rahul Srikanth was also working for the gang. Srikanth, who was earlier arrested in property offences, met the other accused during his remand period at Cherlapally Central Prison and after coming out on bail, started smuggling ganja. Police found that Srikanth transported 100 kg ganja in the past 20 days.