VISAKHAPATNAM: The Nalgonda police opened fire on a gang of ganja smugglers who tried to attack them by hurling stones. Two smugglers sustained injuries and were admitted into Narsipatnam hospital. The incident took place on the ghat road of Lambasingi in Visakhapatnam agency on Sunday.
The Nalgonda police were in Vizag Agency in search of some ganja smugglers and kingpins.
Acting on a tipoff, the Nalgonda Task Force recently seized over 300 kg of dry ganja and investigations revealed that some people from the Lammasingi area in Vizag Agency supplied ganja to traders in Nalgonda. The Nalgonda police went to Lammasingi on Friday to arrest them.
They nabbed a small-time smuggler K. Bhima Raju of Annavaram and were planning to trap a major ganja smuggler, Balakrishna, through him. But Balakrishna gave them the slip and disappeared. Family members of Bhima Raju had been searching for him and came to know that police personnel from Nalgonda got him in their custody.
On Sunday, the Nalgonda police decided to hand over Bhima Raju to his family and were heading towards Annavaram when a large number of villagers, including some ganja smugglers lay in wait for them. Suspecting that the locals might attack them, the Nalgonda police turned around, but their vehicles got stuck near Lambasingi due to a traffic jam on the ghat road.
The angry villagers and ganja smugglers hurled stones at the police, causing injuries to some police personnel and damaging their vehicles. In an attempt to scare away the mob, the Nalgonda police fired a few rounds. Two people Kamaraju and Rambabu suffered bullet injuries in the fire. They were shifted to the hospital, where their condition is said to be stable.
Visakha Range DIG L.K.V. Ranga Rao and Vizag rural police chief B. Krishna Rao confirmed the firing.
