Hyderabad: The railway police busted a major ganja smuggling racket operating between Odisha and Mumbai by arresting three farmers hailing from Odisha at the Secunderabad railway station.
Police seized 120 kg dry ganja worth Rs 18 lakh from the suspects. The arrested men are Basudeb Jani, 40, Bhasker Jani, 21 and Gourav Chamchan, 40.
Police said Basudeb and Bhasker hailed from Khordha district and Gourav from Samilpur district of Odisha.
They came to know about the ganja smuggling business and were attracted by its high returns, police said.
They packed the dry ganja in small packets, wrapped it in pouches and hid them under naphthalene balls and incense sticks. They also sprayed room fresheners on them to mask the smell of ganja.
Police said the culprits were travelling in the general compartment of the Mumbai-bound LTT Express with luggage trolleys and bags filled with ganja pouches.
Superintendent of Police (in-charge) Railways S. Rajendra Prasad said that on Monday morning police teams at the Secunderabad railway station saw the suspects and nabbed them. During questioning they found that they were smuggling ganja.
“We seized 13 handbags containing 45 packets of ganja weighing 120 kg worth Rs 18 lakh. They were arrested and produced in court,” Mr Rajendra Prasad said.
Inquiries revealed the suspects were offered Rs 5,000 as commission for each delivery and return ticket fares.
While Basudeb and Bhasker had successfully delivered stock twice before, Gourav was doing this for the first time. Police said they are checking if they had links with gangs arrested earlier.
