Bargarh: Police in Odisha’s Bargarh district seized 1914 kg of ganja worth Rs 3-4 crore and arrested five persons in a joint operation recently.
According to sources, a police team led by sub-inspector Bina Tirkey of Paikmal police station was patrolling the Jharbandh police station area around 9 pm on May 5 when they spotted a truck travelling at high speed in a suspicious manner from Dava towards Jharbandh. The vehicle was stopped for checking.
Upon inspection, officers detected a strong smell of ganja emanating from the truck. A thorough searc
h revealed 67 packets containing a total of 1,914 kg of the contraband. The truck’s driver, identified as Suresh Kumar alia Kallu (30) from Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur district, and an occupant, Shankar Naik (28) of Saldihi in Jharbandh , were detained on the spot.
During interrogation, Shankar revealed that he and the driver were transporting the ganja from Patnagarh area towards Raipur in Chhattisgarh on the instructions of Balmiki Naik and his father Pritam Naik, residents of Putukidunguri village under Jharbandh police limits. He further stated that while Balmiki Naik was trailing the truck in an SUV, Bharatram Patel (54) of Luharsing village and Bhojraj Patel (38) of Kapati village were travelling ahead in a car.
Suresh, Shankar, Pritam, Bharatram and Bhojraj were arrested, and three vehicles along with two mobile phones seized. Further investigation is underway to trace the full network behind the smuggling operation, a police release said.