Inter-state ganja racket busted, contraband worth Rs 20 lakh recovered

Hyderabad: The South Zone Task Force and the Hussianialam police on Saturday busted an interstate marijuana smuggling racket, arresting four persons at Puranapul Darwaza and seizing 102 kilograms of the contraband that was worth around Rs 20 lakh.

The police said that the gang was transporting the marijuana in a car to Maharashtra. Kumara Swamy, 52, was identified as the kingpin and was involved in interstate marijuana smuggling since 2015, the police said.

Swamy was previously detained at the Rajahmundry jail during which he came into contact with marijuana suppliers from Khammam and Odisha.

With the help of the other accused, identified as Gorli Naidu, G. Arjun, both of East Godavari, Shaik Azam, of Siddipet, and Bangari, of Odisha, Swamy smuggled the contraband from Odisha to Warangal and then to Maharashtra. All of them, except Naidu, were arrested on Saturday.

To evade the police, they used interior roads at the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border, through the villages of Lambasingi, Downoor and Marripalem and the forest area of Tallapalem.