Bhawanipatna: Four smugglers were arrested and Ganja weighing over 2,080 kg in a special operation by the police in a forest near Jamuli village in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.
Acting on a specific information, a team from M Rampur police station with support from Mohangiri outpost conducted a raid in the forest area under Dedhasuli panchayat and recovered the ganja packed in 160 plastic jerry bags.
Police sources said four persons, including a gram rakshi, were arrested during the raid.
The accused were identified as Galan Majhi and Kiju Majhi of Jamuli village, and Naib Harijan and his son Jitendra Harijan of Dedhasuli village. The arrests mark the first seizure of such scale in the area, police said.
The crackdown follows recent intelligence inputs about ganja being trafficked outside Odisha under the guise of online courier companies.
It may be noted that joint teams of Kalahandi and Balangir police busted a racket and arrested one person three days ago.
Police and Excise officials had earlier destroyed ganja cultivation in Mohangiri, but the latest seizure has raised questions about how large scale cultivation continues unchecked.