4 of a gang smuggling ganja to Sri Lanka from Andhra arrested by Telangana police

Hyderabad

An international racket of drugs has been busted by Telangana police department, after it caught a gang that was smuggling ganja from Andhra Pradesh to Sri Lanka via Tamil Nadu. The police said that four people have been arrested and 180 kg of ganja, worth approximately Rs 21 lakh, has been seized.

The arrested accused were identified as P Satish, K Kalyan, M Ajith and G Surendran. Four others, Sivaneswaran, Ramu, Murthy and Ram Reddy are absconding. The police said that Satish, Kalyan, Sivaneswaran, Ajith and Surendran loaded 98 packets of ganja in a car at Sileru in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh and were planning to illegally transport it to Madurai in Tamil Nadu. “From there, the contraband would be taken to a border point at Rameshwaram to be smuggled across the sea border to Sri Lanka,” the police said.

However, as Surendran was driving near Thatikonda in Telangana, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Bhoothpur police in Mahabubnagar district, he rammed into a stationary lorry. The police said that Ajith, who was sitting in the car, sustained severe injuries. While some of the accused fled, others who tried to shift the ganja packets were spotted by the lorry driver who informed the police.
“Immediately, they were taken into custody by the Boothpur Police who conducted an enquiry by registering a case and seizing the ganja packets,” the police said.

A special team was also formed under directions of District Superintendent of Police Rema Rajeshwari to nab the accused involved in the smuggling. During the enquiry, the special team found out that the accused had bought the car from a person in Hyderabad for a cost of Rs 1.1 lakh.