Mumbai, Oct 4 (PTI) The Mumbai unit of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 500 kilograms of ganja from a truck in Nagpur in the early hours of Sunday, resulting in the arrest of three persons, an official said.
The arrest of West Bengal residents R P Goldar and A Sarkar, both of whom were in the truck, and main Nagpur-based receiver S A S Yusuf alias Rajabhai has uncovered a drug trafficking syndicate operating across multiple states, he added.
Goldar and Sarkar were held first, and their spot interrogation led the NCB to Yusuf, who has been active in the peddling network for four years and has several Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases against his name, the official said.
“Acting on specific intelligence regarding an interstate network transporting narcotics from Odisha into Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, an NCB team laid a trap in Nagpur during the early hours of Sunday and intercepted a West Bengal-registered commercial truck. A search led to recovery of 500 kilograms of ganja concealed beneath steel pipes,” the official said.
The contraband was loaded in Sambalpur, Odisha, and was intended for delivery to Yusuf in Nagpur for onward distribution across Jalna in Maharashtra and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, he informed.
To evade law enforcement agencies, the accused frequently altered their routes instead of taking the highway network, he said.
The NCB said this operation is part of an intensified crackdown in eastern Maharashtra against interstate narcotic networks.
The NCB seized 209.8 kg of ganja in Nagpur on April 11, 702 kg in Gondia district on May 22, and 245 kg in Bhandara district on June 30, he said. PTI ZA BNM
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