Bengaluru NCB seizes marijuana worth Rs 21 crore, 3 arrested

The arrested men have been identified as D Shinde, M R Kamble and N Jogdand, all from Latur district in Maharashtra.

An NCB official said the contraband was packed neatly and stashed away. “On thorough examination it was found that 3,400 kg of ganja was concealed in the truck. It was packed systematically in 141 gunny bags concealed under tarpaulin sheets and further covered by varieties of nursery saplings in huge quantities. It was difficult to detect the contraband,” the official said.

The consignment was sent from the Andhra-Orissa border by a Maharashtra-based kingpin who had arranged it for separate groups in Pune, Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra and in other states. These groups would then sell the contraband in colleges, at parties and to individuals through their elaborate network.

As much as 3,992 kg of ganja had been seized and 16 persons arrested in an earlier operation which had subsequently led to the busting of three separate ganja trafficking networks. This operation too was planned in the wake of those arrests.

This year, the NCB unit in Bengaluru has seized over 7,500 kg of ganja and arrested 25 persons so far, a huge increase compared to last year’s total seizure of 1,971 kg and eight arrests.