Mumbai Police seize 1.80 tonnes of ganja hidden under coconuts

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police have busted an inter-state drugs racket and effected one of the biggest seizures of narcotics — ganja weighing 1.80 tonnes worth over Rs 3.60 crore — concealed under a consignment of coconuts, a top official said here on Saturday.

The breakthrough was made by the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police's Crime Branch-CID, supervised by Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).

"We were tracking this case for weeks. There was also surveillance, technical intelligence, and following the drug peddlers. The consignment was seized from a truck on the Eastern Express Highway and two persons have been arrested in connection with the case," Bharambe told media persons. The drugs were hidden in a cavity carved on the surface of the truck, in which a consignment of coconuts — which came from Odisha via Andhra Pradesh — was kept to avoid detection en route.

According to the police, the drug was sourced from Ganjam district in Odisha and was sent to the main buyers and suppliers — Laxmikant Pradhan and Sandeep Satpute — who are currently absconding from the police dragnet.

Bharambe said that after receiving the consignment, Pradhan would send it to other suppliers or peddlers in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Solapur, and Surat in adjoining Gujarat. All payment transactions were made either in cash or were transferred through hawala operators, the Anti-Narcotics Cell probe revealed. Further investigations are underway to unravel the other players involved in this inter-state drugs racket. (IANS)

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