Bhubaneswar: Punjab’s Ludhiana police have busted a smuggling racket allegedly operated by a woman from Odisha, who allegedly exploited loopholes in a newly launched shipping company to transport cannabis in different states.
One of her parcels, containing 7.95 kg of cannabis, was intercepted before it could be delivered in Haibowal, Ludhiana, a report on Hindustan Times stated.
The accused has been identified as Phulsi Devi of Odisha. She is the owner of a firm, St. Meirj Logistics. The police have also booked Raj Kumar of Haibowal.
According to the police, the woman had booked nine separate courier shipments to locations in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Acting on a tip-off, the police seized one parcel in Ludhiana.
The matter came to the fore after Mohit Gour, manager of a shipping company based in New Delhi, filed a complaint. Earlier, the Odisha police had intercepted another parcel containing cannabis, leading to an investigation that linked the shipment to Phulsi Devi.
The company then checked its records and found that she had sent a total of nine parcels, one of which had already reached Ludhiana, the HT report added.
The shipping company also operates an e-commerce platform and while parcels related to their e-commerce orders were scanned, those from private clients, like those sent by Phulsi Devi, were not properly checked. This loophole was exploited for drug smuggling, said sources.
Punjab police are now investigating the involvement of more people in this smuggling network and are working with Odisha police to track down additional shipments. Officials are also probing whether any more parcels linked to this operation have already been delivered undetected, the Hindustan Times report stated.
