(UTV | COLOMBO) – Mahabubnagar police yesterday busted an international ganja peddling racket and arrested four persons who were transporting the contraband from Andhra Pradesh to Sri Lanka., the Times Of India reported.
Police seized 180 kilos of ganja worth Rs 21 lakh from the possession of the accused. The gang was using RFID tags to track the contraband during its transit across international waters.
The arrested were identified as P Satish from Madurai, K Kalyan from Hyderabad, M Ajith of Tamil Nadu’s Theni and G Surendran of Chandrayangutta. Their associates Sivaneswaran, Ramu, Murthy and Ram Reddy are absconding. On January 4, a car driven by Sivaneswaran carrying 180 kilos of ganja stuffed in waterproof packets, rammed into a parked lorry at Thatikonda on NH-44 near Bhootpur.
Ajith sitting in the front seat suffered severe injuries in the mishap while Sivaneswaran fled from the scene with the help of other accused in another car abandoning Ajith. The driver of the lorry noticed ganja in the car and informed the police.
During investigation, cops found out that Satish and Kalyan who have a history of ganja peddling were transporting the seized ganja from Sileru in Vishakapatnam to Madurai. Recently, Satish and Kalyan had started procuring ganja from Ramu and Murthy at Sileru for Rs 5000 a kilo and selling the same to Jayachandran of Rameshwaram for Rs 13,000 a kilo.
“From Rameshwaram area, the accused were transporting ganja to Sri Lanka through boats and selling the same in Sri Lanka for Rs 18,000 a kilo. The gang tags the contraband with RFID chips to track its movement over the sea,” Mahbubnagar SP Rema Rajeswari said.
On January 1, Satish came to Hyderabad and met Kalyan. They hired Surendran’s car to transport the contraband. On January 3, Satish, Sivaneswaran, Ajith, Kalyan and Surendran met in Bhadrachalam and went to Sileru. They purchased 180 kilos of ganja from Ramu and Murthy. Another accused Ram Reddy packed the contraband into two kilo packets and loaded in one car.
While Sivaneswaran and Ajith were travelling with the contraband, Satish, Kalyan and Surendran were piloting their vehicle in another car . After the accident, Sivaneswaran called Satish and informed him about the mishap. “Satish picked up Sivaneswaran and they fled from the scene abandoning Ajith and ganja,” the SP said. A special team formed by the SP arrested Satish, Kalyan and Surendran at Moosa Dhabha in Bhootpur on Thursday. Ajith is said to be out of danger.