HYDERABAD : On a quest to make easy money, a family of four from Maharashtra, including a 15-year-old minor, decided to illegally smuggle drugs from Odisha.
They had purchased 64 kg of dry ganja for Rs 30,000 in Odisha, packed it in three bags and planned to reach Maharashtra via Hyderabad on Sunday evening. However, Rajendranagar SOT and Chevella police intercepted them, seized the drugs, and apprehended the four accused.
Police said, 35-year-old Chitra Kailash, along with her paternal uncle Navnath Ganpath, her younger brother (a minor), and an acquaintance, purchased ganja from Lamu Palari in Brahmapur, Odisha. They intended to sell the ganja for Rs 16 lakh, the police said.
It turns out that this was not the first time the family has been smuggling drugs across states.
“There have been previous cases against them too. In fact, there was a case registered in Mokila police station against other members of the family,” a police officer told TNIE.
The interstate peddlers had taken a lift from an unidentified lorry to reach Chevella via Hyderabad. They were again waiting for another lorry near the Shankarpalli X Roads when Chevella police and the SOT personnel jointly caught the accused and recovered the ganja.
“The minor has been identified as a juvenile in conflict with the law and has been sent to a shelter home,” the police revealed.
A case against the peddlers, the supplier, and two consumers under the NDPS Act has been registered.