Rayagada: Five smugglers were arrested here after the seizure of 14 ganja-loaded bags weighing 206 kg from their custody in a train’s AC coach, Wednesday. The accused persons identified as Jaffruddin Mallick, Imran Khan, Aslam Khan, Taheer Khan, and Adnan Mohammed are from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. The approximate cost of the seized contraband would be over Rs 20 lakh, said Excise Superintendent Abhiram Behera. As per reports, the contraband which was kept in 14 bags under different seats in AC coach number -1 of Visakhapatnam Durg Express was being smuggled smartly by the five accused. The bags after being loaded at Parvatipuram station in Andhra Pradesh were transported to Raipur in Chhattisgarh and from there, smuggled to Uttar Pradesh, the Excise department came to know after investigation. The arrested smugglers were seated in different seats in the coach.
During patrolling by the Railway Police led by ASI JS Narayan, the search team came to know about these 14 bags loaded with ganja and arrested the five smugglers inside the train. When the train reached Rayagada station the smugglers were handed over to the Excise department by the Railway Police. The Excise department then registered three cases in this regard, bearing case numbers, (59/23, 90/23, and 48/23)