Cuttack: Excise officials seized a huge quantity of silver bricks and ornaments while checking a car on suspicion of smuggling ganja in Odisha’s Cuttack district on Thursday.
According to sources, acting on information about smuggling of ganja in the car, the Excise officials stopped the vehicle at the toll gate near Tangi in the district. On checking the vehicle, they found several silver bricks, ornaments and around Rs 14 lakh in cash and seized those.
The seized silver bricks, which weighed more than 100 kg, were kept in a secret chamber, suspected to be deliberately created for smuggling, in the car. The officials have also detained two persons travelling in the car.
During questioning, the two persons told the Excise officials that they were carrying the goods to an address in Kharagpur of West Bengal. One of them said they were paid Rs 4,000 for carrying the goods. It was for the second time that they were transporting the seized materials, the sources said.
“We had raided on suspicion of illegal ganja transportation. As cash and silver bricks and ornaments have been seized, we have informed GST officials for necessary investigation,” a local TV channel quoted a senior Excise official as saying.
