Rourkela: Sundargarh police personnel seized Tuesday more than 543kg of ganja worth Rs50 lakh from a truck that was going to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
One person, identified as Niranjan Pradhan, 40, a resident of Thakurgarh in Angul district has been arrested. He was driving the truck which was intercepted in an area under the Bhasma police station. Police have also seized six bundles of aluminium rolls, a mobile phone and the truck.
Pratyush Divakar, SP, Sundargarh stated that Pradhan regularly transported aluminium rolls from the Nalco plant in Angul to various parts of the country. The greed for easy money prompted Pradhan to indulge in ganja transportation, added Divakar.
“We had information that the truck was coming from Jharsuguda and it would pass through Sundargarh district. We intercepted it on a bridge near Lohardhipa. The vehicle was searched in front of an executive magistrate and the 20 packets of the contraband item were found hidden under the aluminium rolls. Those were seized and the driver was arrested,” Divakar said.
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“Pradhan had loaded the aluminium rolls from the Nalco plant. Near Sanahula village under Thakurgarh police station, he loaded 20 packets of the contraband and embarked on his journey. We are interrogating him to find out about others involved in this illegal activity,” Divakar added.
The police official also added that this has been a huge breakthrough for the cops. He informed that many more arrests are on the cards following this haul.
PNN