Malkangiri: Police arrested a journalist on charges of smuggling ganja during a raid in Khairiput block under the district, Tuesday. The police also seized around 15 quintal of ganja and arrested five persons, including the scribe, in this connection. The scribe identified as Hemant Takri was working for a web channel in Koraput Baipariguda area. He was nabbed red-handed by the police with the smuggled contraband.
A special team led by Mudulipada OIC was stationed at Jhariaguda checkpoint for inspection of vehicles. They intercepted a pick-up van and a four-wheeler speeding towards Jeypore. The cops tried to stop the vehicles, but they didn’t stop at the checkpoint.
The cops then chased the vehicles and successfully and forced those to stock. While searching the vehicles, police found large quantities of cannabis loaded in gunny bags. They seized the vehicles, detained those travelling and took them to the Mudulipada police station for interrogation.
“Our team was stationed at Jhariaguda for checking vehicles. A speeding car followed by a pick-up van tried to escape. We chased the vehicles and intercepted them,” informed Anshuman Dwibedi, SDPO, Chitrakonda.
“We have arrested the five accused and seized the haul of ganja which worth over Rs 1 crore in the market. The investigation process is underway and we will try to collect more information,” informed Dwibedi.
During the interrogation, the culprits confessed to smuggling ganja to other states from Chitrakonda.