Ganja worth Rs 1.20 crore seized by police at Andhra-Odisha border

Ganja worth Rs 1.20 crore has been seized by Andhra police in Vizianagaram on Thursday. District police came across the lorry which contained bags of contraband during a vehicle check on the Andhra-Odisha border, near Gumada village of Komarada mandal. According to the District Superintendent of Police (SP) B Rajakumari, police found 675 kgs of ganja packets worth Rs 1.2 crore in the international market in a lorry which they noticed and found to be suspicious on the road. According to police, the bags of cannabis were being smuggled to Odisha from Araku valley in Visakhapatnam. A total of 135 packets each, weighing around 5 kgs  were seized along with the lorry. However, the lorry driver and others fled the scene on noticing the police. A search is on to nab them. SP said that a case has been registered and police are looking for the persons who are running the network.  In the last eight months, district authorities have arrested 49 persons in 20 cases while seizing 860 kgs of ganja.  According to police, the ganja is being smuggled in Odisha, Chattisgarh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu and districts within the state from interior Paderu and Araku valley region. Speaking to local media, SP said, "All steps are being taken to curb ganja smuggling, surprise vehicle checks are being carried out with mobile vehicle checking teams. Besides this, people who were accused in the past are being monitored." Earlier in June, officers of the Vijayawada Commissioner's Task Force seized ganja weighing over 546 kg and arrested two persons belonging to Tamil Nadu near Nunna of Vijayawada. According to police, the accused at the time loaded ganja at Yalamanchili of Visakhapatnam and were heading to Madurai in Tamil Nadu.